


Anomaly

by UltimateAlternateuniverse



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Eventual Romance, F/F, F/M, Family, Female Chara, Female Frisk, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, M/M, Older Frisk, Possessive Sans, Protective Sans, Redemption, Some Humor, m/m - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-11
Updated: 2016-07-24
Packaged: 2018-07-14 11:09:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 23,373
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7168607
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UltimateAlternateuniverse/pseuds/UltimateAlternateuniverse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Frisk had reset so many times. She had repeated the same adventure over and over again. Hoping and praying that maybe, just maybe, she would do it right this time. That she would be able to finally free her friends.</p><p>She hadn’t expected to find another human being,lying in a patch of golden flowers, after her most recent reset. Something like this never happened before… who was this boy? And how would his sudden appearance effect the events of this new timeline?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. New blood

* * *

 

Long ago two races lived in perfect harmony with one another. The Humans and the Monsters. However darkness would overcome the humans; slowly corrupting them and morphing them into jealous and hateful beings.

One day war would break out between the two races. The monsters fought a valiant battle however, due to the superior technology and larger number of the humans forces, the monsters were defeated and forced underground with a magical seal preventing them from ever returning to the surface world again.

**Many years later**

**Mt. Ebbot, 201X**

  
It was a rather cold evening near the rugose and rough-hewn mountain of Mt Ebbott.  A ring of snow covered the sky-piercing mountain and blanketed the nearby forestry with layers of thick; crisp, white, snow.

The sound of crunching echoed throughout the quiet forest; disrupting an otherwise peaceful night. Trekking through the cold, somewhat refreshing, air. A boy would cautiously advance into the great unknown. His short, kinky hair frizzled slightly due to the moisture present within the air. He possessed eyes that were a deep and lustrous black; similar to the shade found on a beetle's wings. However if one were to look closely, they’d be able to see the specks of brown that dotted his iris.

He couldn’t comprehend how his family had coaxed him into agreeing to go on a camping with them. You see, nature and him simply didn’t blend well. You could say that nature and him had some sort of love-hate relationship. While he could appreciate the beauty of it and admired the diversity; he _despised_ a lot of the creatures that came with it.

Namely mosquitoes. Speaking of mosquitoes. His hand slammed hard on his smooth ebony skin; the crack of skin connecting with skin echoed throughout the nearby forest and he winced in pain. He hadn't meant to put that must force behind it, but he was honestly getting sick of being a source of food for these pests.

I mean really. Why did such creatures even exist? What was the point of them? All they did was irritate everyone and helped to spread diseases.

He groaned in annoyance as the incessant high pitched buzzing being emitted from the insect's wings intensified once it neared his head.

“OH MY GOD!” he shouted angrily as he began to frantically swipe at the air in a vain attempt to rid himself of the filthy bloodsuckers. Eventually he would realize that his efforts were in vain as the moment he batted them away they seemed to come back in greater numbers. Growling in annoyance he trudged forward; his feet sinking into the snow with every step he took.

He had gotten himself lost. He wasn’t afraid to admit that. His step-father had only sent him out to collect a couple of twigs for some make-shift fire pit. Yet he couldn’t even do that much; he was so useless sometimes. He couldn’t help but feel like an embarrassment to his family; maybe if he didn’t exist their lives would be so much better.

He clutched onto his close-fitted, red solid sweatshirt tightly. Seemingly falling into himself as his muscles began to vibrate in small movements in a desperate measure to produce heat and energy; both of which he was slowly running of.

He thought about turning back. However the idea seemed unwise; not only had his tracks been covered up by the snow that descended from the skies above at a somewhat rapid pace, but he was frightened at the prospect of ending up getting him lost even more. His best course of action was to get to the summit and hope to spot his family’s campsite from there; at least he would be capable getting there without getting lost.

Once he neared the top he spotted what appeared to be some sort of dirt road. However something was off about said pathway. While the snow covered all the surrounding area in layer upon layer of white, the path was snow-free; what was even stranger was the fact that the path seemed as though it was well worn… suggesting that it had been used quite frequently.

But that didn’t make any sense. His step-father was quite clear about the fact that no one had visited the area for a very long time… Yet here he was standing in front of a clearly well-used, although poorly maintained,  dirt pathway.

Maybe he had been wrong?  Although it seemed like a general consensus among the townsfolk, not just his step-father, that no one had been here in centuries. Hesitated for a moment; unsure of what his next course of action should be. He wanted to continued onwards; to ignore the dirt pathway and pretended that it never existed.

However there was a powerful tug in his chest and he felt a strong urge to investigate the path. It might lead to civilization after all and if it didn’t he could always back track and  make his way to the summit.

As he began to make his way towards the path, he silently wondered where all of this curiosity came from, he was always quite a cautious individual. He didn’t enjoy branching out and leaving his comfort zone. Maybe that was why he hadn’t made any new friends since he arrived in this foreign town a month ago.

He was too much of a wall-flower.

* * *

 

Unfortunately the path didn’t lead to civilization but it had lead him to the entrance of a large cave. Now he was by no means an idiot; for all he knew some giant ass bear could be hibernating inside or a pack of wild wolves and he rathered not be on the menu. But despite these fears he still entered the cave; his legs seemingly having a mind of their own as they moved on their own accord.

Drip…

Drip…

Drip…

  
That was all he heard as he traversed the expansive cave system. Fear slowly welled up inside of him as he anticipated an attack; he could feel the adrenaline steadily being administered into his body in small droplets.

He heard the sound of something crashing to the ground. Pivoting around abruptly; his

Dark eyes searched the cave for any sign of life. Subconsciously he took several steps backwards. Maybe this wasn’t a good idea… maybe he should have just continued to the summit and-

He would be ripped from his thoughts as he suddenly felt himself trip over something. “Ah..!” he exclaimed in shocked as he felt himself slowly descending towards the ground; but instead of an instant collision with the ground he would find him plunging rapidly downwards. He let out a shrill scream as he watched the world above him get increasingly distance.

And before he knew it; the world around him faded to black.

* * *

 

He didn’t know how long he had been out for. Quite honestly he didn’t even know how he was still breathing. “ The hell; how am I still alive?” was the first thought that came to mind as his eyelids slowly opened. How was he still breathing? How was his body not a mangled mess with all it’s content spread across the floor? When was he ever this lucky?

His hands would clench around something soft. Turning his head he would noticed that a patch of golden flowers; blinking in confusion he slowly rose into a sitting position to take in his location a bit more. It would seem that he had fallen in a patch of golden flowers. “Did these break my fall?” he wondered silently as he ran his hand gently through their petals.  

Where was he? Had he fallen into a lower level of the cave system that he was in? If that was the case... why the hell was there a random patch of golden flowers here? A gasped would snap him out of his reverie and his eyes would widened at the sight of a young girl.

She had brown hair that barely reached her shoulders and was adorned in a striped sweater. She looked about thirteen or fourteen the most and she was looking at him with the same look of shock. “ W-who are you?” She inquired timidly. The girl seemed dumbfounded by his presence and regarded him as though he was some sort of anomaly. Which made him wonder how long the other girl had been down here; it looked as though she hadn’t seen another human in ages.

“Um… well I'm Kaylin.”  He answered, although he could see that the girl wasn’t really satisfied with his answer? What? Did she expect him to be someone of note? Well… he was sorry to disappoint her, he was as average as it got. “And you?”

The girl seemed hesitant to answer him, which confused him immensely, but he decided not to comment on it. Finally, after a moment’s pause, she spoke. “I’m Frisk... “

He smiled politely at her. “That’s a pretty name.” He stated as he slowly got to his feet. “So Frisk… do you... um… do you know where we are?”  There was a flash of something in the brunette’s eyes; but he couldn’t tell what it was or what it meant.  Frisk didn’t respond to him for a moment seemingly debating something in her head and Kaylin began to shift uncomfortably in the spot where he stood.

“I-I have no idea” She looked away from him; avoiding his gaze. While he didn’t want to doubt the girl in front of him; after all it wasn’t good to make assumptions but he had the sneaking suspicions that Frisk was hiding something from him.

After a moment of awkward silence Frisk turned her gaze back towards him and smiled at him. “ I think it be wise for us to move on… it might not be safe to stay here.” She suggested as she motioned towards a pathway he hadn’t noticed before.

He blinked and nodded in agreement.  Seeing as there were no other alternatives and he was into the idea of  sitting around and waiting for others to come rescue him; he decided that Frisk’s suggestion was the best option.

Kaylin walked onto the path along with Frisk his eyes taking in the architecture of the area in admiration. It was as if he had fallen down into some sort of ancient ruins.  “Wow this place is beautiful” he muttered Frisk and him past another towering pillar.

“Yeah, it sure is.” Frisk agreed. However while Kaylin seemed awestricken by the sight Frisk looked almost saddened by it.

“So um… how old are you Frisk?” He inquired.

“I’m 14,” The brunette answered. “You?” She spared a glance at him.

“I just turned 16 yesterday; my family had decided to take me out camping as a gift. "Which was kind of a sucky gift considering nature hated him; but he still was grateful, some people didn’t even get anything for their birthdays.

“Happy belated birthday.” Frisk would supply with a smile. Smiling in return he would mutter a quick thank you before the two fell silent.

“So how did you end up down here?” Frisk was would suddenly break the silence that had fallen between the two.

“I… I got separated from the rest and ended up finding this dirt path that lead me to this cave.” He explained as he shoved his hands into the pockets. “I hadn’t been paying attention and I accidentally slipped and fell down that hole.” Honestly he was still wondering how he was standing there with no injuries whatsoever.

“Really? Looks like we're both in the same boat then.” She turned her head towards him; her eyes shimmering in the dull light of the ruins. “ I hadn’t been paying attention myself when I tripped; I thought for sure that I was dead…” She seemed to trail off there.

“So how’d you end up in the cave?”  Frisk mood seemed to sour slightly at his question and the smile on her face turned into a scowl.

“I-i rather not talk about it.”

He instantly felt bad for asking such a question. Given her reaction, it was obvious that her reasoning for visiting the cave was something she’d rather not remember. “Oh… sorry i didn’t mean to-”

“It’s ok, you were just being curious… let’s just get out of here. Yeah?”  

* * *

 

They would step into another area where they would encounter a smiling… flower?

“Hey there! I’m Flowey. Flowey the flower-” The Flower would suddenly stop mid-conversation as he took noticed of Kaylin. “W-what they're are two you?” He inquired. The shock clear in his tone.

“Did that flower just talk?” Kaylin’s eyes were wide as he pointed a finger towards the plant. OK he was definitely dead… there was just no way that he was standing in front of a talking plant. Just no. His inquiring gaze turned to Frisk; the brunette, who had a frown on her face as she regarded Flowey, instantly had the same look of confusion on her face when she noticed that Kaylin was looking at her.

Flowey seemed to recover from his shock. The sickeningly cheerful look reappearing upon his face. “Ah it doesn’t matter.”  

He would feel a tug on his sleeve and would turn his head to Frisk who would lean towards him and whisper. “ I don’t think we should trust him.”

“Why?” Kaylin would ask. Sure his creeper sensors were going off; but it was a flower… what was the worst thing it could possible do to them?

“Just take my word for it ok?” Was Frisk’s simple response. Kaylin sighed but nodded anyway and pulled away from Frisk to face the flower.

“You two are new to the underground, aren’t ya?” Flower asked, still smiling widely. “Boy you must be confused, someone ought to teach you how things work around here.” Frisk and Kaylin exchanged looks; from the way Frisk was looking at him he could tell that she wanted him to be prepared. He gulped and his hands twitched as he waited for the flower to continue.

“Which is something little old me will just have to do! Ready… well here we go…”

Suddenly two hearts appeared in front of the humans which floated above their chest. Frisk a bright red and Kaylin a Green colour.

“The hell just happened?”  Kaylin questioned as he reached out to grab the heart. He was shocked when his hand was able to successfully wrap around the it and he brought it close to him; his brown eyes inspecting it closely.

“That’s your soul silly!” Flowey giggled. “The very culmination of your begins! Your souls are going to start out weak down here but with LOVE it will grow much stronger.” His smile became more menacing. “You want some lOVE don’t cha?”

“Um…” Kaylin took a few steps back after noticing the shift in tone in Flower’s voice. “ For some reason I don’t think you mean the same love that i’m thinking about.”  Suddenly Frisk was standing in between him and flower.

“Bingo.” Was all she said as she glared at Flowey.

“Oh so you know what going on here?’ Suddenly both Frisk and Kaylin would be surrounded by bullet-like pellets. “Well lesson number 2: Down here it’s KILL OR BE KILLED!” The pelts suddenly came at them at full speed and Kaylin screamed out.

Frisk bent down and gripped onto Kaylin’s arm prepared to dodge out of the way, when Flowey was suddenly blasted away by a fireball. The pelts instantly feel to the ground and Kaylin let out a sigh of relief.

“Looks like your arrival hasn’t changed a lot.” He heard Frisk muttered, but before he could question her, a giant humanoid goat woman appeared.

“What a foul creature picking on two defenseless individuals.” She would shake her head in disappointment and turned her gaze towards Frisk and Kaylin. Frisk seemed to stiffen in the goat woman’s presence; but Kaylin was too busy gawking at the monster to notice.

This day was just getting weirder and weirder.


	2. The Ruins

* * *

 

 Frisk was confused.

Confusion was a feeling that she hadn't felt in such a long time. After living through so many different timeless, she had long since grown use to the abnormalities of the Underground. After all, when you knew all of its secrets, it was really hard to be surprised about anything anymore.

 Yet it would seem that the Underground was an even stranger place than she could’ve ever anticipated. Kaylin’s presence within this timeline was evidence enough. Frisk couldn’t comprehend what she could have done in her last run to trigger such an odd occurrence in the timelines. What made the situation even more baffling was the fact that the male possessed a green heart.

 She was well acquainted with the souls of the six fallen humans. After all, they had saved her life in multiple timelines from that damn weed-otherwise known as Flowey. Green, was the soul that represented kindness from what she remembered. While she didn’t think it was unlikely that there could be multiple humans with a soul of Kindness; every human up to this point, with the exception of herself who shared the soul of determination with Chara, had a unique soul type.

 Speaking of Chara, Frisk silently wondered what happened to the other girl. She had been oddly quiet ever since the reset. Which was strange. Usually by this point, she would have already heard the girl voice in the back of her head, egging her to kill.  She wondered if Chara’s absence had anything to do with Kaylin.

 She glanced at Kaylin who continued to look at Toriel with the same disbelieving face that he had when he had saw Flowey for the first time. She honestly didn’t know how she should feel about him. He seemed nice enough, but his presence was worrying… what if something else had changed this time around?  She couldn’t deal with any more surprises. She had a goal, and she was going to achieve it. She didn’t need all of these distractions.

 The Goat woman tilted her head and smiled brightly at them; which made Frisk’s heart clanged.  She had hurt this woman in so many timelines- including the last- She didn’t deserve her smile. She wanted to fall to her knees and cry. To beg for forgiveness; but she knew that doing something like that would be pointless.

 It wasn’t as if Toriel had knowledge of the other timelines.

 “Frisk are you seeing what I’m seeing?” She heard as Kaylin silently muttered to her. “I’m not going crazy am I… because there’s a giant goat woman standing right there.” Frisk suppressed a smile. He had a similar reaction to her when she first saw Toriel; she could only imagine all the thought that were currently going through his head at the moment.

 “Don’t worry, I see her too.” She assured him. She didn’t want him to feel as though he was going crazy, although he was taking the situation surprisingly well. Much better than she did.

 “Are you two alright?” Toriel questioned. “He didn’t hurt the two of you did he?”

 “No ma’am.” Frisk answered. Which resulted in Toriel sighing in relief.

 “Yeah if it wasn’t for you, we would have been toast” Kaylin added. A grateful look appeared upon his dark features. “What was that guy’s deal anyway? He was so nice at first and then he just tried to kill us!”

 A sad look appeared upon Toriel’s face. “I’m afraid child that not all the monsters living in the Underground are… welcoming to humans.” The goat woman explained to the two humans.

 “Underground… Monsters?” Kaylin sputtered- “You mean this place is filled with guys like that?”  Frisk could hear the slight quiver in the older teen’s voice. “Oh god; I think I’m going to throw up.”  The brunette could see the fear in the other humans’ dark eyes as he raised a hand to his lips to prevent himself from splattering his contents onto the floor.

 Before she could move to comfort him, Toriel had already closed the gap between them. She would slowly crouch down and wrapped her arms around the boy who had become to shake slightly. Frisk could only look on in sympathy.

 “It’ll be alright child,” Toriel said in a soothing voice. “Not all monsters are like the one you encountered...” She tried to reassure the older teen. Kaylin continued to shake in the goat-woman’s hold; but eventually he would pull away.

 “Thank you Toriel.” He said in a somewhat somber voice. Frisk could see the lines of tears on his dark face which confirmed her suspicions that the boy had been crying.

 She was wrong. He wasn’t taking this situation well at all. The sight of her new acquaintance drawn to tears made her feel guilty. Maybe if she had told him something, instead of pretending to be completely obvious of her surroundings, they could have avoided this situation. At least he would have been mentally prepared for such a revelation. Then again, it was never easy to hear that almost everything wanted you dead.

 She approached the two. “Are you ok Kaylin?”  She questioned. Worry evident in her voice as she regarded the boy who refused to meet her gaze.

 “I’m fine.” He answered a bit too quickly. “I promise.” A smile graced his face once more as he finally turned to face her.

 “Kaylin? That a lovely name my child.” Kaylin’s smile seems to get a little brighter at the goat-woman’s compliment.

 “Thank you.”  Toriel smiled at the boy’s response and nodded, before taking a step back as the human male straightened. Toriel’s gaze would shift towards her and Frisk could help but flinch in response. The goat-women looked confused, and possibly hurt, by her actions. While the brunette felt horrible she couldn’t help it.

It was too soon. She didn’t know if she could look Toriel ever again without being plagued by all the horrifying memories.

“What is your name child?” Toriel inquired. Her voice was gentle, warm, and welcoming. Which only help to fuel the guilt the girl felt.

“Frisk.” She answered rather curtly, inwardly she winced at how harsh she sounded and silently cursed herself for being so cruel to such a kind woman.

She could feel Kaylin’s eyes on her. This time he was looking at her with worry; possibly wondering what had gotten into her. To her shock Toriel didn’t seem offended or even upset with her; instead the goat woman continued to smile, with the same inviting smile, as she introduced herself.

“My name is Toriel. I am the caretaker of these here ruins. I am glad you two are alright. I have been coming to here every day to see if anyone has fallen down. I must say, I’m surprised to have found two of you this time.” Toriel explained as she adjusted her clothing.

“So humans tend to fall down here all the time?” Kaylin inquired.

Toriel shook her head in response. “No, not at all. In fact, you two are the first humans that have fallen down here in a long time.” She explained.

“So… where are the others?” The older teen inquired. “You said that there were others before us… so uh… where are they?”

Honestly Frisk had hoped that the boy would have been as ignorant as she was when she first came here. She had only found out about the fate of the others when she tried to leave the ruins and Toriel attempted to stop her. Until then she hadn’t even given much thought about the humans that had arrived before her.

Toriel hesitated. It was obvious that she was trying to come up with an excuse as to why the humans were no longer present; but if she didn’t think of one fast Kaylin would surely catch on.

“Well they- “Toriel had begun to explain, but was interrupted by Frisk.

“They probably found a way back to the surface.” Frisk theorized. “I mean… if they aren’t here anymore that’s really the only logical explanation right?”

Kaylin pondered over Frisk’s words. “I guess you’re right.” He agreed; before turning to Frisk. “You’re pretty smart, shorty.”

“Hey! I’m not short” Frisk rebutted; offended that he would suggest such a thing. “I’ll have you know that I’m 5’7, which is quite tall for a girl my age.”

“Yeah well I’m 6’1, so you’re pretty short in comparison.” Kaylin countered with a grin on his face.

 Frisk huffed and pouted, folding her arms, she looked away from Kaylin. “It’s not my fault you’re so freakishly tall.” She shot back and the boy snorted.

“If I’m freakishly tall,” He said motioning towards Toriel. “She’s a giant.”

Toriel chuckled at the exchanged. A nostalgic feeling welling up in her as the two reminded her of her own children who, unfortunately, had passed away a long time ago. “Now, now my children. You are both of respectable heights; there is no need for you to bicker.” As much as she enjoyed the interaction between the two, an uneasy feeling had come upon her and she felt it wise to leave the area.

“Follow me children; I’ll guide you through the catacombs ahead.” The Goat-woman would motion for them to follow as she turned and walked down the path.

“Do you think we should follow her? I mean she seems nice but…” Kaylin looked conflicted and Frisk could tell he was being extra cautious given what had happened earlier.

The brunette gave the older human a reassuring smile as she laced her hand with his. “I think we can trust her.”

Kaylin blinked at her in confusion for a moment, before a grin appeared on his face. “Alright. Let’s go shorty!”

“I’M NOT SHORT!”

* * *

 

Kaylin stood in awe as he stared up at the entrance of the ruins in wonder. He could see Toriel at the top and waved at her with his free hand; his other hand still laced with Frisk who had gone oddly silently ever since they entered the area.

“Hey... Kaylin?” She called.

“Hmm?” He turned his head to the brunette and raised a brow at her.

Said brunette pointed towards the open area between the stairs that lead to the top platform where Toriel stood. “Do you see that?” Kaylin blinked and tried to look for whatever Frisk was referring too. “Um… what are you pointing at Frisk? I don’t see anything.”

Frisk’s expression quickly morphed into one of confusion. “W-what?” The brunette stuttered as she seemed shocked by the fact that he couldn’t see whatever she was pointing at. “Can you honestly not see….”  She faltered and seemed to go into deep thought. “How is that possible?” she murmured quietly.

“Are you ok Frisk?” The taller human asked worriedly. “You seem a bit off…”

Frisk waved him off. “Yeah I’m fine; you should go on… I have something I need to take care of.” 

The taller human bit down gently on his lower lip. “I don’t know if that’s a good idea Frisk… you heard Toriel; these ruins are filled with monsters.” Besides, what could the girl possibly have to do that she had to do alone?

Frisk gave him a reassuring grin. “Stop being a worry-wart, I’ll be fine. I promise I’ll be quick.”

Reluctantly Kaylin relented. “Well if you say so…” The boy removed his hand from the younger teen’s grasp and instantly tucked it into his pocket. As much as he wanted to prod the other, to figure out what she was up to, he didn’t want her to anger her.

“Try not to take too long ok?” He said with a small smile on his face before he proceeded up the stone stairway.

* * *

 

Frisk waved at both Toriel and Kaylin as they entered into the ruins without her. Once she was sure that the both of them had gone inside she approached the star-shaped object that illuminated an Aureate light that threatened to blind her as she got closer.

She didn’t understand why Kaylin hadn’t seen the save point. He was human just like her and yet he looked at the checkpoint as if it weren’t even there.  Although it was foolish of her to assumed that all humans had the ability to see them; maybe the reason why she could see and use them was due to her having a red heart?

Or was it because he was an anomaly? Maybe the save points recognized that he shouldn’t exist and therefore were denying him their aid?  However, that sounded very unlikely to her.

Pushing the thoughts away for now she decided to reach out for the save point. She had promised the other human that she would be quick and she’d like to keep her promise. The save point reacted to her approach; seemingly glowing ever more luminous as her red heart appeared for her chest. Emitting a vibrant red glow as it floated nearer to the checkpoint.

Suddenly Frisk would be consumed by the golden light and the world around her would become pitch black. Three words floated ominously in front of her; a dim light being exerted from them and brightening up the nearby area.

**Save**

**Load**

**Reset**

However, all three options had giant cracks that ran through them, which shocked the brunette. What was going on? The only people who were capable of damaging the options like this were Flowery and Chara.

She was one hundred percent sure it wasn’t Flowery; in his current state he didn’t have the power to do anything but make meaningless threats. Chara had been absence since she had reset the timeline, besides she would never risk damaging the options as they were her ticket to freedom.

Frisk wasn’t a fool. She could feel Chara gradually getting more and more powerful every true reset; Chara was just bidding her time until she was strong enough to completely overcome her and use her save and reload abilities to reach the surface. The brunette shudder at the mere thought of releasing a being like Chara onto the world above.

But if it wasn’t Chara or Flowery, who could have caused this? Worry had begun to build up within her as she closely inspected the three options.

Placing her hand on the save option she would feel the determination rush through her system; a sudden spark of electricity would cause her to retract her hand instantly. She shook it to help numb the pain. That never happened before.

What was going on here?

* * *

 

Frisk had managed to catch up with Toriel and Kaylin. Having already traversed these ruins in multiple timelines, she knew them as well as the back of her hand at this point, which made it easy for her.

The two were currently standing in front of a dummy with Kaylin striking up a conversation with the inanimate object. Frisk giggled at the scene. If it were any other person, or if this were her first run through, she would have thought that the boy had gone mad. However, she knew that Toriel was teaching the older teen the proper way to combat the monsters down here, but it didn’t stop her from laughing at the exasperated look on the boy’s face as he continued to converse with the dummy.

Toriel must of her heard laughter as she turned her gaze away from the boy towards her. “Ah my child! I was just about to go and retrieve you” She said as she pulled away from the dummy to approach her, muttering to Kaylin to continue to converse with the dummy and that he was doing well as she past him.

“How did you managed to pass the puzzles my child? You are not hurt are you?” Toriel seemed puzzled by the girl’s appearance as she bent down to inspect her for any injuries.  The brunette felt guilty for making the Goat-woman worry and couldn’t help but feel as though she didn’t deserve such attention from her.

After all she had killed her multiple times before.

“I’m fine honest. Sorry if I made you worry.” She apologized as she stared at her shoes; refusing to meet the goat-woman’s gaze. Far too afraid of breaking down if she were to make contact with those loving, warm eyes of hers’.

“It’s alright my child.” Toriel reassured her. Her furry hand lacing with Frisk as she stood up and gently tugged the girl toward the training dummy. Frisk stiffened slightly at the contact; the memories of past timelines filling her mindscape.

It always started like this; with her holding Toriel’s hand.

“Are you ok my child?” She could hear the panic in the monster’s voice. “Should I remove my- “

“No it’s fine.” Frisk was quick to reassure Toriel. Her grip around the monster’s hand tightened to emphasis that she didn’t want Toriel to let go of her hand.

The monster smiled gently at the human child. “I know you must be scared, but the underground isn’t such a bad place; I’m sure when you get used to it you’ll grow to like it.”

Frisk nodded and allowed a small smile to grace her face as Toriel gently directed her towards the dummy.

Kaylin had stopped talking to the dummy once he noticed that Toriel had returned with Frisk. “Are you alright shorty?” She saw him mouthed to her; her eyebrow twitch in annoyance at the nickname.

“Yeah I’m fine” She mouthed back to the boy. “And stop calling me shorty!”

“As I’ve told Kaylin. As humans living in the Underground, monster may attack you.” Toriel said. “If they do attack you, you will have to fight them,” She continued. “You will need to know what to do in this situation.”

“Apparently we have to strike up a conversation with them.” Kaylin added although he didn’t look particularly please with the idea. “I’m fine with avoiding conflict it’s just… what if we run into a monster like that Flower?”

Toriel shifted her gaze towards Kaylin. “I understand your concerns my child. All you need to do is stall for time and I will come to resolve the conflict.” She promised. “Like I said earlier I will make sure no harm comes to either of you.”

Kaylin sighed but decided to listen to Toriel.

“Your turn my child.” Toriel would gently remove her hands from Frisk’s and nudge the brunette towards the dummy.

With an award winning smile and a hand on her hip, the younger of the two humans approached the dummy. “Nice to meet you; I hope we can become friends?” She greeted. The tone of her voice was quite friendly and welcoming and her posture portrayed no signs of hostility.

“Wow; you’re good. Much better than me.” She heard the older human say and would blush at his compliment.  To be fair, she had enough to time to practice and perfect her charisma skills, so she did have an advantage over him.

“Thanks. You weren’t bad yourself.”  She complimented.

Toriel clapped at the display and if Frisk wasn’t afraid to look at her face she would have seen the look of pride on the monster’s face. “Well done!  With skills like that you might not even need me to help.” Toriel joked. As she approached the two humans.

She stretched out her hands for the two of them to take. “Come now children; there’s more to see.”

* * *

 

A giant frog swiftly leaped out of a nearby bush, just as the group of three were passing by, and tackle Kaylin, forcing him to release his hold on Frisk’s hand. The boy would yelp in both surprise and pain as he slammed onto the cold, rough, stone surface of the ruin’s ground. The Frog sat comfortable on his chest; crushing him slightly and making it difficult for him to breathe.

Frisk’s eyes widened at the sight and she made to advance towards the older human to assist him. However, she felt herself get gently tugged backwards.

“No. Please wait my child” Toriel advised as she watched the scene unfold. Frisk stared up at the monster in shock.

“But Kay- “

“Kaylin will be fine. Just watch.”

Kaylin gulped as the giant frog stared at him with its giant beady eyes. His mind was running a mile a minute with thoughts as he tried to figure out what to do. He was scared shitless; he hadn’t expected something like this to happen… he knew he shouldn’t have drop his guard… he was foolish to think that Toriel’s presence would have prevented attacks from other monsters.

The frog’s cheeks puffed up and its eyes sharpened as it seemed to grow larger inside, increasing the pressure upon the human’s chest which caused him to wince in pain. Promptly the creature ejected its tongue from its mouth, which lashed out like a whip toward his head. Kaylin screamed and titled his head just enough to avoid being struck by the tongue.

“Get off of me!” The boy cried as he tried to push the monster off of him but to no avail.

Toriel blinked; that wasn’t the reaction she had expected. She had hoped the boy would have applied the training from earlier to this encounter… but she could see that the older of the two humans didn’t seem to work well under pressure.

Frisk couldn’t take much more of it and roughly tugged her hand away from Toriel’s grasp; shocking the monster with how much strength the young girl had. Rushing over to the two; Frisk would place a hand on her chest and call out to the frog-monster. “Please stop Mr. Frog! You’re hurting him.” The brunette pleaded.

The Frog turned its attention towards her and Frisk would feel her soul leap out of her chest. Signifying that she had just entered battle. The frog’s tongue shot out towards the brunette repeatedly, forcing the girl to hop, skip and roll around to evade it.

“You’re just the cutest thing ever Mr. Frog!’ Frisk complimented as she narrowly avoided being struck by Froggit’s tongue.

The Frog’s attack would suddenly halt as a faint, red, blush appeared upon its face. Toriel would sudden approach the big frog; her big furry hands on her hips as she gave the creature a menacing look. The frog shifted uncomfortably before it leapt off the older human and vanished behind the bush once more.

Frisk ran towards the down human and bent down to inspect him. He was visibly shaken by the experience; his breathing was erratic and his entire body was shaking violently.  “It’s ok Kaylin… the frog’s gone.” Frisk tried to comfort him but it didn’t appear as though the boy had heard her as he continued to shake.

Toriel bit down on her lower lip. “I’m sorry my child… I thought that- “The Goat-woman sighed. “Whatever I thought… I was clearly wrong, I shouldn’t have left you to defend yourself like that” The monster opened her arms and without even realizing it, Kaylin fell into her grasp.

He subconsciously wrapped his arms around Toriel’s waist as he continued to shake and Frisk could help but feel slightly angry at Toriel for not assisting. She knew that Toriel had only good intentions but that didn’t excuse the terrible way she handle the situation.

After a few moment Kaylin finally stopped shaking and with a deep breath he pulled away from the monster.

“I realize that you cannot talk your way out of everything and I know that this situation might be scary for the two of you; but I just hope that you both never have to hurt anyone.” She admitted as she slowly got to her feet.

* * *

 

The group would find themselves in a massive hallway that stretched furthered than Frisk or Kaylin could see.

“Would you two mind staying here for a bit” Toriel inquired politely. “I have some important business I must attend to. The areas ahead are very dangerous without my guidance and it would put me at ease if I knew you two were here safe and sound.” She reasoned.

Both humans nodded and Toriel smiled “Oh before I forget.” She would suddenly produce a device from her pockets and hand it over to Frisk. Kaylin would look over the device, that looked like a very outdated phone, with curiosity.

“If either of you need me, just call me” Toriel stated.

Kaylin raised a brow. Silently wondering how a phone could possible work down here. The phone was definitely no IPhone… but he supposes it would do.

After Toriel left, the older of the two humans turned to the younger. “I’m sorry about freaking out earlier…I’m still getting use to this whole situation” Frisk was taken back by his sudden apology and couldn’t for the life of her understand why he felt the need to apologize in the first place. “I mean I’m so useless; I can’t even beat a frog.” He joked in a self-deprecating way.

“Stop it.” Frisk snapped. Her tone seemed to catch the other off guard as he abruptly stopped laughing at himself. “You’re not useless. Don’t ever think like that.”

“Yeah but you saw what happened earlier… If you hadn’t step in…” He trailed off before sighing. “I can’t help but feel like I’m going to die down here.”

Frisk puffed out her chest and had a determined look on her face “You’re not going to die down here. Know why?” Kaylin shook his head. “Because you have me and I have you… I’ll make sure nothing bad happens to you. That’s a promise.”

“Shouldn’t it be the other way around?” Kaylin joked.

“Hey! just because I’m a girl doesn’t mean I can’t defend you.” Frisk argued.

“Hey, I never said anything about you being a girl.” Kaylin countered. An amused look on his face.

“Yeah, but you implied it!” Frisk shot back. A grin slowly appeared on her own face.

“Did not!”

“Did so!”

“NOT!”

“SO!”

The two playfully glared at one another before bursting into a fit of laughter. Their laughter echoed throughout the halls of the ruins quite possible rousing the local monster populous but the two didn’t care; they continued to laugh.

“Thanks Frisk” Kaylin said in-between laughs. “I really needed that.”

“No problem.” Frisk said as she got her laughter under control.

“So what do we do now?” Kaylin inquired after finally getting control of his own laughter. “Should we wait for Toriel to return or should we do some adventuring?”

Frisk pondered their options. On one hand they could go exploring the ruins, and Frisk was sure that with the two of them here, adventuring through the ruins wouldn’t be as dull; but she knew the consequences of doing so. While Chara was quiet she didn’t want to risk _accidentally_ stumbling upon the knife that rested in these ruins.

“I think we should wait on Toriel.” Frisk said. She noted the slightly disappointed look that appeared on the other human’s face when she suggested that they should stay.

“Are you sure? Who knows what kind of treasures are hidden here.”  The boy insisted.

That was the problem. She knew exactly what laid in these ruins. She wouldn’t trust herself around any weapons this time around; she had been foolish last time to believe that a toy knife couldn’t hurt anyone. She had never imagined that with enough determination and a sadistic imagination like Chara that she could have hurt so many people.

“Yeah I’m sure.” Frisk asserted. “Besides we did tell Toriel we’d wait here for her; it wouldn’t be right to just leave.” The brunette reasoned.

The curly haired boy sighed. “I guess your right…” He agreed.” So do you wanna talk while we wait?”

“Sure”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright that’s chapter 2 folks! I hope it was an enjoyable read for you guys.
> 
> Also what do you think of Kaylin? I’m trying my best to avoid making him a Gary Stu and to make him an interesting and personable character for you guys. I know he seems to be a bit of a cry-baby but I feel like his reaction to the situation he’s in is reasonable. I’d still like to know what your opinion are thought!
> 
> Please review! It fills me with determination whenever I see a review.
> 
> I’d like to thank everyone who review/kudo/subscribed. It makes me happy to see that others like my work.
> 
> Also I’m still debating on whether or not this will be Genocide or Pacifist. Although I have had two people so far who said they wanted a Pacifist run.


	3. Ruins and a Snowy Forest

"So what do you want to talk about?" Frisk inquired as she promptly sat, crossed legged, onto the ground. Kaylin followed her lead and sat next to her, staring upwards.

"I don't know…" He admitted as he began to fiddle with a few nearby pebbles. "But if we're going to be stuck down here for a while, might as well get to know each other right?"

Frisk nodded in agreement. "Right. As cliché as it sounds it would be nice to know each other's like and dislikes right?" Kaylin smiled at her. She couldn't lie the boy's smile was quite infectious and without knowing it she was smiling as well.

"Well I guess I'll go first then, seeing as I was the one who suggested it." He decided. "Well, my favourite colour is yellow; favourite month is December, which is also the month I was born in, and my favourite activity is sleeping." He relayed. He raised a brow at the brunette when she snickered.

"What did I say?" He asked, a frown appearing on his face.

"Sleeping is your favourite activity?" She repeated, the amusement clear in her voice and on her face.

Kaylin pouted. "What? Can't a guy enjoy sleeping?" Frisk began to laugh causing the older teen to playfully shove her shoulder.

"Sorry, sorry." The brunette apologized after a few moments of laughter. "It's just that… you really reminded me of someone when you said that."

Kaylin was taken back by the revelation and titled his head at the younger human. "I did? Well If he likes naps as much as me I think we would get along." Frisk nodded in agreement as she tucked a few strands of brown hair behind her ear.

"Well I guess it's my turn then," The brunette mused. She received a nod in response from Kaylin. "Well my favourite colour is red-"

"Typical" The curly haired male interjected playfully.

"Oh hush you." Frisk said. "You're just jealous that red is obviously the superior colour." She claimed with pride as she puffed out her chest. Red was determination and with determination you could do anything.

Kaylin rolled his eyes at her. "Whatever you say shorty." Frisk frowned at the nickname and her eyes narrowed playfully as she shoved the other.

"Hey, no need to get violent." The taller human laughed.

"Says the hypocrite."

"Hey you deserved it… besides I did it playfully." Kaylin shot back winking at the younger teen who rolled her eyes and shook her head in exasperation.

"Whatever you say." Frisk said. "But back onto topic. My favourite month is January because it's the gate way to the new year and signifies another year of life."

"So philosophical."

Frisk reached out and flicked the older teen's forehead. "Ow!"

"Let me finish" The younger human stated with a smirk on her face. "As I was saying. My favourite colour is red, my favourite month is January and my favourite activity is drawing."

"You can draw?" Kaylin inquired and Frisk nodded in response.

"Yeah… when I was younger I didn't like to talk much so I would always draw pictures to communicate with others." Frisk explained as she also began to play with some nearby pebbles.

"Why didn't you like speaking?" The older teen pressed although he regretted it once her saw the younger girl flinch. "S-sorry… I shouldn't have asked."

"No, no it's fine" Frisk reassured. "I mean if we're getting to know each other we might as well learn about our lives before falling down here."

Kaylin still didn't look convinced. "Yeah… but still, I'm sorry for bring up any bad memories."

"Why are you so quick to apologize?" Frisk suddenly asked. "I've noticed you do it a lot and it's usually not even necessary."

The older teen shrugged his shoulders and began to gently scratch the back of his head. "It's just what I do… it's sort of like a reflex for me. I guess it's mostly to avoid arguments? Even if I wasn't the one causing the problem in the first place, I usually apologize first."

"I understand you want to avoid arguments… but you shouldn't feel as though you have to apologize for everything." Frisk said.

"Yeah… I guess you're right," Kaylin agreed. "Hey where's Toriel? I wonder what she's up too?" Frisk blinked at the boy. She noticed how he tried to change the conversation and while her mind was telling her to push the topic she decided to drop it. After all he hadn't pushed her when she didn't feel like talking.

"I guess she's still taking care of her important business." Of course, Frisk knew exactly what the woman was up too. "Although she is taking quite a long time." Frisk was beginning to worry, usually by this point, Toriel would have called her at least four times. Yet the phone hadn't rung even once.

"Maybe we should go look for her?" Kaylin suggested.

Before Frisk could respond the sound of footsteps caused the two teens to look up. Toriel waved at them as she approached, an apologetic look on her face as she dusted her hands of a peculiar substance that looked suspiciously similar to cinnamon powder.

"Sorry for the wait my children." The goat-woman apologized, a bashful look appearing on her face as she approached them with an elegance that only someone of noble heritage could pull off. "That took longer than I thought it would… and what's worse the phone died so I wasn't able to call to check in on you two." Toriel explained. "Did you two try to call me? Hopefully I didn't scare you two by not answering."

The two humans shook their heads. "No. We're just talking." Frisk stated as she slowly got to her feet and extended a hand towards Kaylin. The older human gratefully took her hand as he got up. The two walked hand-in-hand towards Toriel who grinned at them.

"Oh, that's nice." She said as she extended her hand towards Frisk who took it. The same nostalgic feeling returned as Toriel began to lead them through the ruins.

* * *

 

The group stood in front of a quaint house that stood opposite to the vast ruins behind them. The walls were painted purple while two large beds of red flowers rested on either side of it. The flower beds seemingly bringing live to an otherwise bleak place.

"Wow." Kaylin said in admiration, a small smile on his face as he took in the scene before him. Despite looking rather small it was still a beautiful house and the flowers that decorated it gave a particular flare that the older teen couldn't help but admire.

Toriel smiled at the older teen's reaction to the house. She had hoped they'd like it.

While Kaylin was busy admiring the area, Frisk had her eyes on the save point in one of the flower-beds. Noticing the distracted look on Frisk's face the taller human turned his head towards her. "What are you looking at Frisk?" He inquired.

Frisk shook her head. "Nothing. I just thought I saw something" She lied. The older teen frowned at her, clearly not believing her but decided not to push the subject.

Toriel lead the two humans inside the house. The two humans walked into a small foyer with stairs at the back and on either side of the room were halls that lead to various sections of the small house.

Toriel released their hands as she walked to the centre of the room and turned to face them with an enthusiastic smile on her furry face.

"Well, what do you think my children?" The goat-woman asked as she stretched out her hands.

"Well it-" Kaylin began but stopped rather promptly and started to sniff the air. "Do I smell cinnamon?"

Toriel nodded. "Surprise! I've been baking cinnamon pies for you two." She said.

Frisk blinked. Just cinnamon? Strange, usually she made butterscotch-cinnamon pies. This timeline was really starting to worry her; who knows what will happen from this point on. Maybe she should have saved before entering Toriel's house?

"But that's not the only surprise!" Toriel claimed with great enthusiasm. "Follow me!" Frisk and Kaylin exchanged looks. Toriel sure did seem enthusiastic about them being here.

The two followed the goat woman through the hall on the right. She stopped abruptly in front of the door and began to sniff the air. Raising her hand towards her mouth she gasped. "Oh dear. I think the pie might be burning!" She turned towards Kaylin and Frisk. "Why don't you two go on ahead? I'll be with you two soon." Toriel suggested before rushing towards the kitchen.

Stepping into the room both teens were shocked by the appearance of the room, both for different reasons. Kaylin was shocked by how old the room was, while Frisk was shocked by how different the layout of the room was.

The room had been painted, and seeing as the paint smelled quite fresh she could tell that it was done recently, one half a turquoise blue and the other a sickening pink. Frisk winced at the sight. There were two beds this time, each pressed against either side of the room and neatly fixed.

It seemed as though Toriel had realized that the toys that usually decorated the room would be a bit too… childish for the two of them and had decided to decorate the place with shelves filled with books, board games and what appeared to be a very outdated gaming console.

Despite the slightly different layout the box filled with the shoes of the past children still remained in the same place. Frisk guessed that it would have been too painful for Toriel to throw them away; after all they had belong to people who she had considered to be her children.

Kaylin approached the box with curiosity. "Wonder what's in here?" She heard him question. Frisk shrugged her shoulders and approached the pink side of the room where she plopped herself onto the bed.

"Probably nothing important." She said rather nonchalantly. The brunette lowered herself onto the bed and stared up at the ceiling of the room. A nostalgic feeling welled up inside of her as she sank into the soft bed beneath her.

She heard the box open, signifying that Kaylin had decided to opened it. "Your right there's nothing in here besides five pairs of shoes." The older human said. "Does Toriel collect shoes for a living? None of these look like they would fit her."

Frisk suddenly shot upwards which startled the other human enough to cause him to release the lid of the box. "Geez Frisk what's gotten into you?"

"Did you just say that there are only five pairs of shoes in that box?" The brunette inquired, pointedly ignoring the boy's own question. The curly haired male nodded in response.

"Um… is that a bad thing?"

Frisk didn't respond as she suddenly leaped off her bed and approached the box herself. Opening the lid, she inspected the box and its contents, her free hand pushing aside shoes as she tried to find the missing pair.

This didn't make any sense. Where was the missing pair of shoes? Did Toriel move them elsewhere? If so why would she leave the rest of them here? All these thought ran through Frisk's mind as she pulled back from the box and allowed the lid to shut on its own.

What was going on here? She knew for a fact that there were six humans that fell down into the underground before her… and yet only five shoes laid in the box before her. What happened to the sixth pair of shoes?

She glanced at Kaylin who was looked at her with concern. "What's wrong Frisk?" The boy asked and Frisk sighed. This timeline was just so confusing.

"I-I think these shoes belong to the humans that came before us." Frisk claimed. "It's the only explanation I can think of. Besides… Toriel doesn't wear shoes."

The concerned look on Kaylin's face morphed into an odd expression, something Frisk couldn't decipher. The brunette was slightly worried that the boy knew she was hiding something from him.

"Why would she keep those then?" He inquired after a moment's paused.

"Maybe she keeps them as souvenirs to remind herself of them?" Frisk suggested to which Kaylin nodded in response. The two fell into an awkward silence and Frisk shifted uncomfortably.

"Frisk…"

"Hmm?"

"I think Toriel believes that we want to stay here."

Frisk sighed; she knew that eventually the boy would make mention of that. Honestly she had hoped that maybe, just maybe, he would have wanted to stay here. It wasn't safe for him out there and being an Anomaly she didn't know what would happen to him if she were to reset.

When the girl didn't respond to his comment he continued on. "I mean she's a nice woman and all but… I have a family up on the surface… I can't stay down here." He looked down-cast. "My mom must be worried sick about me…"

"I understand." Frisk suddenly cut in. "It wouldn't be right to abandon everyone you cared about… my life before I fell down here wasn't the best but I still had people who cared about me." The brunette explained. "So I can understand your urge to return to the surface."

"Besides if all the other humans could do it, so can we, right?" Kaylin suddenly brightened as a small smile appeared on his face. It took all Frisk had to prevent herself from flinching at the boy's comment; he really did believe that the other humans had made it out.

The older teen covered his mouth as he yawned. "I'm tired. I'm going to go to sleep. We can tell Toriel tomorrow if you like?" Frisk nodded.

"Sure. Goodnight Kay."

"Kay?"

"Hey you call me shorty. I think I have the right to give you a nickname as well." Frisk defended.

The boy smiled and Frisk was taken off guard when he suddenly hugged her. "I like it. Goodnight shorty." He said as he pulled away and ruffled Frisk's brown locks before heading towards the bed on the blue side of the room.

Frisk's lips quirked upwards as she watched the boy slowly drift off. Her gaze turned back to the box filled with the shoes of all the fallen humans that had come before them. Except one.

The brunette wondered what other anomalies she'd fine within this timeline.

* * *

 

It was dark when Kaylin woke up. Slightly bewildered, the boy glanced around the room, his eyes slowly adjusting to the dark. Did Frisk turned off the lights? Or had it been Toriel?

His eyes landed on Frisk who still slept in the bed on the other side of the room. A blanket wrapped comfortably around her form as she continued to snooze quietly. Glancing downwards he noticed that the blankets that were once beneath him were now covering him instead.

For some reason he was sure that it was Toriel who had done this. It just seemed like something she would do, which was nice of her. He really appreciated all that she had done for Frisk and him and was more than grateful for her hospitality. But he had to make his intention clear; he wasn't going to be staying here.

Besides already having a family, he didn't want to be a burden to the goat-woman. Eventually he would get bored of staying in one location all the time and would go out to adventure and quite possibly run into monsters. He was quite sure that if he reacted like he did when the frog attacked him he could get seriously injured or worse.

Sure, he had Frisk here with him, but he had the feeling that the girl had no intentions of staying herself. On the topic of Frisk. He could tell that the girl was hiding something from him… but he couldn't tell what nor could he understand why.

Sighing the boy hopped out of bed and exited the room, making sure he closed the door as gently and as quietly as possible. Once he was in the hall he decided to explore the place.

He went into the room next to the one him and Frisk were staying in. Inside, the older human found a giant Queen sized bed and a couple of bookcases and drawers.

The boy blinked and instantly realized that he was in Toriel's room. Before he could backtrack out of the room his eyes caught sight of an open book lying on a nearby desk. Now he knew it was wrong to read other people's stuff without permission… but he couldn't help himself.

Picking up the book, his eyes skimmed through the pages.

"Why did the Skeleton want a friend?" The page read.

 "Because he was feeling BONELY!"

"…"

"…"

"…"

Kaylin suddenly started to laugh. Oh my god that was horrible. Did Toriel really like bad puns? Well, at least he knew she had a sense of humour now… as bad as it was. Placing the book down on the table the teen exited the room and proceeded to the room at the end of the hall.

His hand turned the knob but the door refused to open. Removing his hand from the knob the teen turned and headed towards the other side of the house.

The smell of cinnamon filled his nostrils as he neared and he saw Toriel sitting in what appeared to be a rocking chair, reading a book. Looking up from the book Toriel noticed the teen and smiled brightly at him.

"Oh... Good morning my child. I hope you slept well." She greeted as she closed the book she was reading.

"Yeah, those beds are really comfortable." At least his was; he wasn't sure if Frisk's bed was as soft and comfortable as his own.

"Good. I'm glad you slept well," Toriel said, quite pleased. "I left your pies on the table. If you like you can eat it now?"

Kaylin smiled in response. "Yeah, that sounds like a plan." He said as he approached the table with the pie on it. Plopping himself down onto the chair the boy took a bite of the pie.

His eyes widened. This was the most delicious thing he had ever put in his mouth and he made sure that Toriel was aware of it. "This is amazing!" he proclaimed as he took another bite out of the pie.

Toriel beamed brightly at him. "Thank you my child," She seemed close to tears at his reaction and rubbed her face with her large furry hands. "I'm so glad that you like it."

The smile on Kaylin's face slowly lowered at the sight the monster being drawn close to tears. She was lonely, wasn't she? She took in all of those humans and every last one of them left her. The thought saddened him. He was going to have to leave her all alone in these ruins as well; he couldn't stay here nor did he have any desire to.

"Toriel." The teen called out quietly and the Goat woman seemed eager to respond.

"Yes, my child, what is it?"

"How… how do you leave the ruins?" He questioned quietly. "I-I want to go home."

The goat woman froze as the room fell into an uncomfortable silence. She stared at him with wide eyes, her hands twitching slightly in shock. It was clear that she hadn't expected him to ask her such a question… at least not as soon as he did. Maybe she had hope that she could have distracted him and Frisk and that they would eventually forget about their lives on the surface?

"M-my child… this is your home." Toriel stuttered after she regained her bearings. "Why would you want to leave?"

Kaylin shook his head and bit on his lower lip gently. "No it isn't. This isn't my home." Kaylin asserted. "I'm grateful for all you've done for me and Frisk but I have family on the surface… I can't just abandon them."

"Frisk and I could be your new family." Toriel suggested hopefully.

Kaylin could feel the tears welling up in his eyes as he stood up. He was starting to regret doing this without Frisk being here. He honestly couldn't take breaking the goat-woman's heart, but he knew he had to. It was the only way he was ever going to return to the surface.

"Please Tori… I want to go home."

The goat woman panicked as she stood up from the rocking chair and commanded that the boy stay out while she went to do something. "Toriel!" Kaylin called out as he got up and followed after her. Entering the main foyer, he watched as the goat woman quickly rushed down the stairs.

The sound of a door slamming open and quick heavy footsteps caused the teen to turn his head to the side and take notice of Frisk. "Kaylin? What's going on? Where Toriel?"

"I don't know!" The boy cried as he raised his hands to his head. "I told Toriel I wanted to leave and-" he didn't get to finish his sentence, as Frisk suddenly gripped one of his arms and violently tugged him downstairs.

 _Wow_ , where did she get all this strength from?

"Frisk! Slow down!" He yelled as she continued to pull him along. The two of them entered a long, winding underground hallway. Their footsteps echoed throughout the halls as Frisk expertly traversed the halls with such ease that Kaylin wondered if the girl hadn't been down here before.

The girl didn't respond. Her eyes were narrowed and her face was set into a rather determined look. It didn't take them long to catch up to Toriel, who stood in front of a massive door.

 _"Is that the exit?"_ Kaylin wondered as Frisk suddenly stopped in her tracks. The abruptness of it took him by surprise and, with a yelp, he slammed into her back. Frisk cried out at the force, and both teens came crashing down onto the ground.

"I told you to slow down." The boy groaned as slowly got to his feet.

"I'm sorry for misleading you two," Toriel apologized as she turned away from the door. "But the other humans died. Every. Last. One of them." She revealed.

Kaylin paled at the revelation. What did she mean they all died? "H-how?" he inquired as he gripped the fabric of his pants tightly. Frisk glanced at him and winced at the expression on his face.

"Every human who leaves these ruins shares the same fate." Toriel expression darkened. "I have seen it again and again… They come. They leave. They die."

"Even if that's the case me and Kaylin have each other," Frisk argued. "I'm sure we'll make it."

"You, naïve child." Toriel turned her head away from the two teens. "If you leave the ruins… They… Asgore… will kill you and take your souls."

"Please stop your scaring me!" Kaylin suddenly screamed as he clutched his head in fright. "I-I just want to go home… please" The boy was shaking again and both Toriel and Frisk looked at him in sympathy.

"I'm sorry my child but if you want to return home." Suddenly fire appeared in the palms of the goat woman's hand. "You're going to have to get through me first."

Suddenly the two humans felt their souls be ripped out of their bodies. "No… I don't want to fight you!" The boy declared as he slowly got to his feet, tears rapidly falling from his face.

Frisk stood at her friend's side and nodded in agreement. "I'm sorry that we have to leave; but we can't just stay here." Frisk tried to reason. "Please Toriel!"

The goat-woman shook her head and shot several fireball towards the two teens. While Frisk managed to jump out of the line of fire rather easily, the older teen had been too overcome with fear to move. His feet felt as though they weighed several tons and his eyes had widened at the sight of the rapidly approach ball of fire.

“Watch out.” Frisk screamed as she pivoted around. Her feet slammed onto the hard flooring of the ruin as broke out into a full sprint towards the other human.

However, it was too late. The fireball had connected with the boy’s heart.

The first thing Kaylin noticed when the fireball connected with his soul was the sheering numbness that erupted through his form, before it was overtaken by an almost crippling pain. He also noticed that, despite the fireball never actually hitting him, he still felt himself being thrown backwards and into a nearby wall.

His pupils dilated slightly as his body slammed into the hard surface of the wall. The sound of flesh coming into contact with stone echoed throughout the ruins as the boy seemingly bounced off the surface and gravity took effect on his body.

Gradually the boy lowered towards the ground.

There was the feeling of something warm wrapping itself around his waist and holstering up to his feet, just before his body made contact with the ground. To dazed to really take noticed of who had helped him, the boy’s entire form began to tremble as the pain numb away and the adrenaline began to be pumped into his system.

“Kaylin.” A familiar voice called out and the older human turned his head to see Frisk at his side. However, his gaze was blurry, which caused him to see several variations of the same person at once.

However, he could still see the worried expression on the girl’s face. Even as it morphed into one of anger when she turned her gaze to Toriel. Who looked upon the two with unconcealed guilt.  Nevertheless, it was clear that the Goat-woman was determined to keep them here. Even if it meant hurting them. She charged several more fireball and threw it at them.

 Frisked reacted quickly and tackled Kaylin to the ground just as the fireball collided with the earth where they had once stood.

"Are you ok?" Frisk asked the older teen. He was still shaking. His eyesight had cleared slightly and now he only saw two Frisk.

"I don't want to fight her..." He managed to murmured as he raised a hand upwards for Frisk to help him to his feet.

"We don't have to fight her… just spare her." Frisk explained as she took the boy's hand and pulled him up. The boy winced slightly as the pain in his arm returned momentarily and Frisk gave the boy a sympathetic look.

"What do you mean?" he inquired. The two humans turn towards the giant goat woman.

"Just follow my lead." He hesitated for a moment before nodding, although Frisk could feel that the older human was still shaking at her side.

"What are you two doing?" Toriel said as she summoned more fireballs in her hands.

Neither responded and continued to stand there with their hands laced together. Toriel sighed. "I know you two want to go home… but I promise that life here isn't so bad. Please… just return to your room."

The two humans continued to stand defiantly in front of monster. Their hearts glowing brightly as they both shook their heads. As much as both of them didn't want to leave the woman behind… they needed to leave the ruins.

Toriel sighed once more and dropped her hands, the fire that once coated them instantly dissipating as she regarded the two humans with tear filled eyes.

"I guess I can't change your minds." She sounded… broken. "I-I wish you two luck on your journey… please call whenever you need someone to talk to." Toriel moved away from the door and walked towards the two humans who rushed at her and embraced her in a tight hug.

The goat woman stumbled backwards slightly. She was shocked by the sudden show of affection, before a small smile appeared on her face. "Be safe my children." She said as they continued to hug for a moment before she pulled away.

* * *

 

The two humans exited the ruins. Their hands were still laced together as they entered into another room that bore a striking resemblance to the one where they had first met Flowey.

Kaylin was quiet. His mind still processing everything that happened since he woke up not even an hour ago… the guilt and the pain he felt at seeing Toriel's heartbroken expression was overwhelming and it took everything he had to avoid breaking down into tears right there.

Funny. When did he become such a crybaby?

He hadn't even noticed the way Frisk stiffened until a voice, one that he had hoped he'd never hear again, broke the silence. "You think you're so big because you spared one insignificant life," The flower mocked. "But tell me? What's going to happen when you run into a relentless killer huh?"

The flower's face morphed into a demonic expression, "You'll DIE and You'll DIE and You'll DIE. Or will you kill out of frustration?"

"Shut up!" Frisk snapped, her grip tightening slightly around Kaylin's hand. "Why don't you just leave us alone!"

"Oh, someone seems a bit angry." Flower sneered. "Let's not forget that your- "Frisk took a few steps forward, her eyes narrowed. Fearing that the girl would do something she would regret the older teen tugged her backwards gently.

The flower seemed shocked by the act of aggression and was looked at Frisk curiously. "Whatever" The flower said as it slinked back into the ground.

"Are you alright Frisk?"

"Yeah I'm fine… but I'm starting to hate flowers now." The brunette joked. "Can… Can you go on ahead without me? I need to take care of something."

The older teen wanted to object, but decided that maybe Frisk needed some alone time. After all the flower did seem to have riled her up.

* * *

 

Having walked ahead a bit the boy was shocked to find that he had somehow ended up in a vast forest filled with snow. _The hell? Why were there trees here? Better question… how did snow get here?_

This place was just… no it was honestly far too strange for him to even contemplate wrapping his brain around. Not only did this cave system hold an entire society of monsters that, apparently, hated humans for some odd reason; it also somehow had its own ecosystem and weather as well.

He ran his hand through his thick, curly locks as he slowly made his way through the forest. The sound of the snow being crushed under his feet and echoing throughout the forest reminded him of when he was travelling up the mountain… before he had fallen into the underground.

He sighed. He was going to die here. There was honestly no way he could survive this place… maybe Frisk, she sure was determined enough to do so, but not him.

The sound of a twig snapping caught his attention and he turned abruptly. His eyes scanned the area behind him for any signs of life. When he didn't see anything he gulped and took a few steps backwards. "Uh... Frisk?" He called out, hoping that it was the girl who made the sound and not some monster.

When he didn't get a response and didn't hear anymore twigs snapping. He decided to turn around. However, he hadn't expected to see a short skeleton, around the same height as Frisk, wearing an unzipped blue hoodie, a white t-shirt and black shorts and a pair of sneakers.

"heya!"

He wasn't going to lie. He screamed. Quite loudly too. Falling backward, the boy slammed onto the ground, the snow beneath him cushioning his fall as he began to frantically scramble backwards.

"jeez kid I'm not gonna hurt ya." The skeleton tried to reassure the boy, extending his hand as a sign of peace. Kaylin blinked at the hand that was covered by a white glove, his eyes flickered from the hand to the monster's face.

"well are you going to take my hand pal?"

Kaylin gulped and reluctantly reached out to take the skeleton's hand. The sound of a whoopee cushion echoed throughout the forest the moment his hand came into contact with the skeleton's.

Well… that was unexpected ...and no... he wasn't smiling this was a serious moment, he was in the presence of a potentially dangerous monster. Then why was he struggling not to laugh?

The skeleton chuckled as he helped him up. Although Kaylin couldn't tell if it was at the expression that he must have been making, or if the skeleton was laughing at his own joke.

"heh, the whoopee cushion in the hand trick, always funny. you ok pal?"

"Um… yeah I'm fine." Kaylin said as he began to dust the snow off of himself. "Y-you just caught me off guard." Anyone would have been caught off guard if they saw a living skeleton standing behind them in winter clothing.

"you're a human right?"

Kaylin nodded warily. He remembered Toriel's warning and Frisk earlier had… _Wait ,where the hell was she?_

"ah don't worry, i'm not gonna try and catch ya." The skeleton clarified. "tibia honest you weren't the human I was expecting."

 _Was that a pun?_ "Y-you were expecting another human?" The only other human, to his knowledge, was Frisk. But how would this Skeleton know her? Maybe Toriel was wrong and one of the other humans had managed to survive?

"yeah… you could say i have a bone to pick with them." Sans joked and winked at the human.

Kaylin couldn't help but snicker. _What was with all these puns?_

"glad to see someone appreciates my humerus jokes."

 _This guy was too much._ Kaylin shook his head, the amused expression still on his face.

"well, as you can see, i'm a very punny guy. the names sans, sans the skeleton." The monster, now identified as Sans, bowed dramatically in front of Kaylin.

"Nice to meet you Sans… I'm Kaylin" The teen introduced with less flare than the skeleton.

"kaylin huh? interesting name you got there pal."

The tall human blushed. "It's not that interesting… I mean it's not a common name but I wouldn't say it was interesting…" he said awkwardly as he rubbed the back of his head.

"sure it is, although i guess being a human it's harder to have more unique names, seeing as there are so many of you." Sans shrugged as he pocketed his hands. "but anyways; i gotta say my brother is a human hunting fanatic."

His brother hunts humans? "He is?" Kaylin inquired, the worry evident in his voice as he slowly took a few steps backwards.

"ah but don't worry i think he's still setting up some puzzles." Sans quickly added, possibly noticing the way the human seemed to react to the news that his brother liked hunting his kind.

"so you're not going to capture me and take me to your brother?"

"why would i do that? not really feeling it right now… besides, my brother would prefer to capture you himself." Sans explained.

"That's nice of you."

Sans shrugged in response.

"you hungry pal?"

Kaylin blinked at the sudden question. He had eaten some of the pie Toriel made for him, but he hadn't gotten to finish for obvious reasons, and he didn't pack any snacks before he left. Maybe he should have done that before he left?

Before he could respond his stomach growled he blushed once more and looked away from Sans who grinned at him.

"i'll take that as a yes." Removing a hand from his pocket, the skeleton stretching it towards the human. "come on, i know a place where we can get some delicious hotdogs."

The human hesitated for a moment. What about Frisk? He couldn't just leave her. But Frisk was a big girl. She could surely take care of herself. I mean she's shown on multiple occasions that she's capable of doing such. Besides he wouldn't be gone for long, he could always ask Sans to bring him back here when he was done.

He took the skeleton's hand and, within a flash of blue light, the two vanished from the forest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone who has reviewed, Subscribed, kudo or bookmark. It really fills me with Determination to see that so many people have taken an interest in this story.


	4. Grillby's

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Frisk has a little discussion with a little weed, while Kaylin and Sans head out to Grillby's.

A cool breeze whisked through the eerily quiet halls, which tugged on the brown locks of the younger human. Her hair flowed into the air as though it was on water, as she watched as her companion exited the ruins through the enormous, slightly-rusted doors that led to the snowy forests outside of Snowdin. Her lips curled upwards into a small smile.

The smile, however, slowly dissolved and morphed into a bitter scowl as she turned her gaze towards the spot in which Flowey had sunk into. "You can come out now." She proclaimed. Her hands latched onto her waistline as she bent over slightly, her eyes narrowing onto the patch of soil began to shifted and quiver.

After a few brief moments, a golden flower with a face emerge **d** from the soil, shattering the sediments that once concealed it across the ruin floor. It regarded the brunette cautiously. While most flowers usually stood erect, this one was slouching and its eyes were narrowed. "You know, for a moment there, I mistook you for Chara." The Golden flower commented sullenly.

Frisk sighed and her hands dropped from her waist as she relaxed her posture. _Great_ , she thought. A feeling of disappointment mixed with anger surged through her as she realized that even when Chara wasn't here, the other girl still managed to have an influence on her somehow.

"Well," Frisk begins. "I'm not. Nor do I plan to be."

"Is that what you're telling yourself?" Flowery questioned. Frisk couldn't help but notice the slightly amused tone in the Flower's voice. "You might have ignored her this time, but we both know that she'll eventually wiggle her way into control somehow."

"That's not going to happen." Frisk asserted, the determination quite clear in her voice as she regarded the flower.

Flowey simply laughed bitterly as his gaze shifted towards the door. "That look on your face… I haven't seen you so determined in a long time." The comment took her by surprise and Frisk blinked in shock before her gaze fell towards the ground.

"Is it because of that boy?" The flower pressed on. "You realize he's simply a glitch in the system right?"

Frisk didn't comment as she began to playfully kick a couple of pebbles. Her luminous amber eyes narrowed slightly and her hands clenched. "He's not a glitch." She argued. A determined look was on her face displayed that she truly believed in that. However, she knew what the golden flower said held some truth, Kaylin wasn't supposed to be here.

"Sure he is," Flowey voiced, craning his head towards Frisk. Suddenly he stood erect, no longer slouching, and the sullen expression on his face transformed into condescending look appeared on his face. "He's not supposed to be here Frisk, he's an anomaly."

The amber eyed teen let out an audible sigh and seemed to deflate slightly as she stood dejectedly. "I know, I know." Flowey seemed taken back by how easily the girl let the argument drop. "W-what do you think will happen if I tried to reset? I don't know if you noticed, but the options are glitched out." She explained, as she subconsciously rubbed her arm and continued to kick at any nearby rocks.

"I don't know." Flowey deadpanned. "You'll just have to find out, wontcha?"

The teen frowned at the flower and silently wondered why she even bothered staying to talk to him. He made it clear in the last timeline that they would never be friends. But she had hoped that they could have at least be civil enough to work with each other. After all, Chara had come dangerously close to killing him; if it weren't for their combined efforts, she wouldn't have succeeded in making the True Reset and the fate of the world would have been up to Chara.

"I guess so." Was her simple reply.

"You're scared **,** aren't you?" Flowey questioned mockingly. "Scared that if you reset, you might erase your little friend from the timeline."

Amber eyes looked upon Flowey with disappointment. She should have known that he wouldn't change. She had hoped that, after all that had happened, maybe he would have a change of heart. Chara had put them through so much. They shouldn't be fighting each other at this stage, they should be working to get rid of her. "Of course I am, he's my friend." She purposely left out the part where she was honestly afraid to be left to her own device **s**. The fear that, if she was alone without some else to regulate her, she would fall under Chara's control once more.

"Friendship didn't help you the last few times, Frisk." Flowey argued, his face scrunched up as his eyes narrowed at the brunette.

"But it will be different this time." Frisk argued back. "I haven't heard a word from Chara… maybe she's- "

"Don't be an idiot." Flowey spat. She could hear the exasperation in the little flower's voice as it continued to glare at her. "She's leading you into a false sense of security… I don't know what she's planning, but I know for a fact that she isn't gone."

However, the brunette refused to back down. "You don't know that." Frisk scoffed and crossed her hand over her chest. "You're not the one with her in your head screaming at you to kill everything sight."

Flowey glowered at Frisk and turned away from her. Slouching over once more, he spared the brunette one more glance. "Believe what you want. Just don't come crying to me when Chara has you kill that new friend of yours." Without waiting for her response, Flowey sunk back into the ground.

Frisk sighed and dropped her arms. Her shoulders slumped slightly and she let out a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding. Honestly, she hoped Flowey was wrong, because as determined as she was, Chara far more determined than she could ever possible be.

Pivoting around, Frisk abruptly made her way towards the exit of the ruins. Her shoes clacked against the hard stone flooring of the abandon hallways of the once great city. She stretched out her hand a **nd** gently placed it upon the steel surface of the door that would lead her to the world beyond the ruins. Her hands felt warm against the cold metallic surface of the door as she pushed it opened with much effort.

The doors creaked opened and the brunette was hit with a powerful gust of cold air that caused the hairs on her arm to stand up, her muscles clenching in retaliation. No matter how many times she had been through this door, she would never be prepared for the rush of cold air that would always enter attack her when she opened the ruin doors.

She glanced around for the other human, but when she didn't see him right away she began to worry. "Kaylin!" She called, her voice echoing throughout the nearby forest. When she didn't receive a response, she began to glance around for any hints on the boy's whereabouts; her eyes locked onto the ground where the boy's footprints were imprinted into the ground.

She bit down gently on her lower lip as she raised her head and looked towards the forest. A feeling of dread suddenly crashed upon her like a wave and she was sprinting forward towards the forest, her amber eyes keeping track of the boy's footprints. She had to get to him before Sans did… Who knows how Kaylin would react to the sight of the skeleton. Seeing as the lamp that **just** so happened to be conveniently shaped like her, she realized it was too small for him. He would be left with no other possible hiding options.

"Kaylin!" She called out once more.

But no one came.

* * *

 

The first thing Kaylin noticed when the bright blue light faded was that he no longer surrounded by towering foliage decorated with snow.

Now he stood in what appeared to be a rather sizable town that was also covered in snow and various ornaments. It reminded him of what his town on the surface looked like during Christmas time back at home. He silently wondered if monsters celebrated Christmas as well. The idea seemed preposterous to him. However, since his arrival in the Underground, he encountered all sorts of peculiar things. So, the idea wasn't as far fetch as he'd thought it be.

"How'd you do that?" He inquired in awe as he took in the new scenery.

Sans just winked and scratched his skull in response. "A guy's gotta have some secrets."

Kaylin rolled his eyes at the response he received, but didn't push the other for answers. He figured that it wasn't any of his business anyway. Besides, his mind shifted to the fact that it was somehow even colder here than it was in the forest.

He shivered. His fingers twitching at the cold air that circulated throughout the town. He could feel his muscles begin to contract in order to help produce some much needed heat as a sort of defense mechanism against the cold that surrounded him. Despite having worn clothing that was specifically tailored to this sort of climate, he was still cold. Hopefully wherever Sans was taking him would be a little warmer than this.

"Welcome to Snowdin bud." Sans introduced, lazily waving around with his free hand.

Kaylin followed Sans' hand movement and began to take in the town that surrounded him. It was rather quaint. He could see the occasional monster passing by and, while he did tense at the sight, he couldn't help but feel that he wasn't in any real danger here.

His eyes locked onto the giant Christmas tree that stood erect in the centre of town. It swayed ever so slightly in the cool, gentle breeze that blew throughout the town.

"Wow." Was all Kaylin managed to utter as he continued to stare at the tree in slight admiration. He was so entranced that he didn't noticed the amused expression on Sans' face as the skeleton's gaze focused on him.

"Pretty cool huh?" Sans said.

Kaylin nodded and ripped his gaze away from the tree and towards Sans. "You guys celebrate Christmas?" He inquired.

Sans shrugged his shoulders in response. He raised a finger to his face and subsequently began to scratch his chin. "Sure, if that's what you humans call it."

"So, what's it called down here then?" He inquired.

"Well, we don't really have a name for it. Some guy was being harassed by a couple of punks." Sans explains. "So, a lot of monsters started to give presents to that monster and ever since it's sorta became tradition to place present under the tree."

"Oh." Kaylin added. "Well that's different to how it is on the surface."

Sans nodded in response. "Figured it would be. How so?"

"Well, on the surface, there are multiple meanings behind Christmas. Although I guess the most popular one is that some old guy comes around and breaks into other people's houses. Usually, he eats their food and leaves presents in return, although if the person was bad, he would leave coal." Kaylin explains. "And saying it like that really makes him seem like some sort of creep."

"You humans sure have some _humerous_ stories." Sans mused.

"Yeah… I guess so." The teen agreed. "A lot of people always say that he is, um…." He hesitated slightly not sure if he should go ahead with it or not but decided to anyway. _"B-big boned."_

There was an abrupt pause.

Neither party uttered a single word to the other. The narrow pinpointed lights that filled the void in the skeleton's eyes socket seemed to grow even more illuminated as that Sans' smile widened even more than before.

Suddenly Sans started to laugh. It was a deep, throaty laugh that filled the otherwise serene silence that befell the town of Snowdin. It made a faint blush appear on Kaylin face. The teen directed his gaze onto the ground and as his lips curled upwards into an a rather awkward and, admittedly, forced smile. He couldn't really tell if Sans was laughing at him for making such a terrible attempt at a pun or if he actually found the pun amusing.

"Nice one kid." Sans complimented after a moment. "Stick with me and you'll be a professional in no time." Sans winked.

The smile on Kaylin's face gradually morphed into something that was much more genuine and less forced. A feeling of relief flooded through his system and he couldn't help but feel slightly grateful that the other wasn't making fun of him. His awkwardness wasn't something that a lot of people appreciated.

"T-thanks, but I think I'll leave all the puns to you." He said. "So where's this place you were taking me to?" He questioned as he examined the line of buildings that decorated the town.

"It's this way." Sans directed and gently tugged on Kaylin's arm. He hadn't even noticed that he was still holding the other's hand. His eyes widened slightly and he let out a small yelp as Sans began to drag him towards one of the nearby buildings with a giant sign at the top that read 'Grilby's'.

He suddenly realized that the entire time he was still holding onto Sans hand. He felt his face heat up even more than before and couldn't help but feel slightly embarrassed by that fact. He was just glad that no one was around to see them.

Grillby's bar was a burst of noise and heat when Sans opened the door, and the human could help but bask in the feeling of warm as it circulated around his form and chased away the cold air. His mind drifted away for a moment as he simply enjoyed the warm air as Sans lead him towards the bar area. It was only when he opened his eyes once more when he finally noticed the large number of monsters that populated the bar.

The smile on his face instantly vanished as a feeling of dread over took any positive feelings he had prior. Subconsciously he inched closer to his new companion as some of the monsters' gaze shifted towards him. The horde monsters that populated the place definitely looked more aggressive and intimidating than the ones he seen in the past. Especially when compared to Sans, who in his own right was quite scary.

Sans' kindness almost made him forget that most of the monsters in the Underground wanted his blood.

It was clear to him that Sans had noticed his anxiousness as the skeleton slowed his movement and allowed him to walk up so that he was at his side. Once he had caught up to the other, Sans flashed him a reassuring smile and squeezed his hand. He appreciated the other's attempt at calming him, he really did, but from the corner of his eyes he could see the outline of several armored humanoid dogs glancing quizzically at him. Their nose twitching in the air.

His attention suddenly jolted from the armored mongrels when he felt a gently tug on his arm. Sans once again offers him a reassuring smile, the pin-like lights illuminated a warm glow, and his grip around his dark hands tightened slightly, though not enough to cause him pain.

"Don't worry pal," Sans muttered quietly to him. "I'll keep an _eye-socket_ out for ya."

Kaylin forced a smile at the attempt at lightening the mood. However, the feeling of dread never left him and swore he could feel the eyes of the other monsters boring into his back even as he sat down on a stool near the bar.

He could admit that, when Sans removed his grip from his hand, the feeling he was currently experiencing simply amplified. He wanted nothing more than to grip the other's hand once more, at least then he wouldn't feel so scared.

But he wasn't some baby. He shouldn't have to rely on others to help him conqueror his fears. So he forced himself to sit there, nervously fiddling with his hands as he did so, his body straight and stiff as he tried to ignore the stares being directed his way.

An awkward silence befell the two as they sat there. Kaylin continued to fiddle with his hands, whether it was by entangling his fingers together or simply bending or twisting them slightly. He was suddenly having regrets about this. His mind wandered onto Frisk and he couldn't help but feel like he abandoned her. She must be worried sick about him; quite possibly believed he was either injured or worse. The thought caused him to wince and his gaze fell down onto the counter of the bar as he tried to rationalize his next step.

He didn't want to leave just yet. After all, he agreed to come here with Sans. Still, he couldn't help but feel like the Sans was playing him. Why would he bring him here where there were other, possibly dangerous, monsters lurking about?

"So pal." Sans begins, breaking the silence and snapping the human out of his reverie. "Whaddya want? I can order that hotdog I promised you."

"That's fine." Kaylin continued to gaze at the counter. "U-um, I'm not hungry anymore."

"Come on bud, ya gotta eat something."

"I said I'm not hungry."

Kaylin heard San sigh and he felt guilty for not accepting his offer, but rationally he couldn't accept any help from the other. Sure he was nice and all, but Toriel had warned them about the monsters out here. For all he knew, Sans could be plotting to hand him over to those guys behind them. Still he couldn't see the other doing that, despite knowing him for a short period of time. Sans didn't seem like to type to backstab others.

"Suit yourself." Sans said before he called out for another person. "Hey Grillby, I'll have an order of fries"

The human face scrunched up in confusion when he felt a flare of heat around the area where he and Sans were currently sitting. His gaze rose away from the counter top in search for the cause. He almost fell off his stool at the sight of the flame elemental wearing a tuxedo and glasses.

The fire elemental nodded politely at Sans before retreating to the backroom.

"So, what do you think of the Underground so far?' Sans inquired. Once again he tried to start a conversation with the other.

"It's… different from the surface. I'm still trying to adjust to it." He explains. "The fact that a lot of the monsters down here want to kill me is kind of making it hard though."

"Ah, don't worry about it bud." Sans reassured. _"Tibia_ honest most of the monsters here have never seen a human before. Besides a lot of the ones that want to are just like me." Sans claims. " _Lazy to the bone_."

Kaylin's lips twitch slightly although he was able to keep the smile from forming on his face. "But no one is lazier than me, you could say that I'm _bone idle_." Sans continued on noting how Kaylin bit down on his lower lip to prevent himself from smiling.

"Come on, you're smiling."

"N-no I'm not." Kaylin denied as he felt his face heat up and he turned his face away from Sans. Sans leaned against the counter and placed his chin in his hand as he continued to stare at the human across from him.

"You sure about that?" Sans commented. "Admit it, you can't resist my _humerus_ jokes."

Kaylin couldn't hold it back any longer. Despite his best efforts the laugh slipped out of his mouth, his hands raised to cover his mouth.

"Geez kid. if you're cracking up at more of my more _bare-bones_ jokes, I can't wait to see how you react to my funnier ones." Sans mused. The sparks of light in the void of his eye-sockets seemingly flared to help display his amusement.

Kaylin lowered his hand once he was sure he wasn't going to burst out in an intense fit of laughter. For some reason, he didn't feel as tense as he did when he first entered Grilby's. Sure, he could still feel the eyes of some of the other monsters on him, but their unusual focus on him was pushed to the back of his mind as he allowed himself a moment to enjoy himself.

He hadn't remembered the last time he had laughed like that. It wasn't something forced to appease someone else, it was a real genuine laugh. His gaze focused on Sans, his brown eyes twinkling in the light of the bar as a smile formed on his face.

It was a bright smile. A smile that stretched across his entire face and even made it to his dark eyes. It was a smile that seemed to transform his entire facial expression, making him appear more youthful and spirited. It was as though he had transformed into a completely different person.

"Thanks for the laugh. Sorry I was being such a jerk to you for a moment there." His gaze shifted to the fire elemental who arrived just that moment with the fries Sans' had ordered. Due to the distraction, he hadn't noticed the way the skeleton's seemed to stiffen a blueish tint appearing on his cheekbones.

"N-no problem kid." He waved off. The blueish tint still coated his face as he grabbed hold of the box of fries and rested it on the counter.

The sound of a growling stomach caused the pin-point lights to shift towards the human, who winced and tried to pretend that it wasn't him by focusing his gaze on anyone but Sans. "Here pal." Sans offered as he pushed the box of fries towards him.

Kaylin bit down on his lower lip as he eyed the food and gently shook his head. "N-no they're yours."

"It's fine, besides I'm not hungry anyway. The food usually goes right through me." Sans winked as he picked up a bottle of ketchup.

"You sure like making jokes." Kaylin noted with a smile on his face as he took the box of fries.

"What can I say? I enjoy making others laugh. I have a _femur_ if you're willing to hear them." Sans said as he directed the bottle of ketchup towards the human. "Want some ketchup?"

Kaylin nodded and took the bottle from the Sans's grasp, tipping it over slightly to release the red contents from its container. When he decided that there was enough ketchup on the fries, he handed the bottle back to Sans who graciously took the bottle from him.

" _Bone_ appetit" Sans said as he chugged down the remaining contents of the bottle. Kaylin blinked in surprise before he a soft laugh escaped his mouth. Sans noticed Kaylin was looking at him and lowered the bottle from his mouth. Some of the ketchup dripped from his mouth and down off his chin.

"What, never seen a skeleton drink ketchup before?"

Kaylin continued to laugh before at the sight for a moment before picking up a napkin from the counter. "Nope." Was his simple reply as he leaned over towards Sans, getting into his personal space. Sans' eyes flared up slightly and he titled his head slightly at the human. However, before he could question Kaylin on what he was doing, the teen took the napkin and wiped the ketchup off his face.

The blueish tint returned. However, Kaylin seemed oblivious to it as he simply smiled and turned his gaze back onto the fries on the table.

Resting the napkin on the table, he picked up a fry and popped it into his mouth. He chewed and his eyes seemed to light up at the flavor that assaulted his taste buds. "Wow that's delicious!" he said before he took several more and subsequently pop several more in his mouth, before turning to Sans and raising a fry toward him.

"Want one?" Sans stared at the human. An odd expression on his face and the only indication that he noticed the fry was the way the pin-pointed lights in his eyes socket slowly lowered towards it. The blush was still there, even as he reached out and took the offered fry.

Before he could eat the fry, he noticed out of the corner of his eyes, one of the guards pointed at Kaylin and was holding a flyer. He couldn't see what it was saying, but it was enough for him to know that it was time for the two of them to leave.

"Hey kid, wanna find somewhere else to hang out?' Sans questioned as he took out some gold from his pocket and placed it onto the counter.

"Sure, but can I at least finish my fries first?"

"You can eat them at the next place."

Kaylin looked at Sans skeptically for a moment, before picking up the box of fries. "Well, if you say so."

Sans raised a hand before he got off his stool. The skeleton removed his sweater and with an outstretched hand, offered it to the human. "I noticed that you were cold. you can wear my sweater to help if you want."

"What about you? Don't you need it?"

"Nah, the _cold just goes right through me_." Sans joked. Despite that. Kaylin still was reluctant to take the sweater.

"Well… if you say so." He said as he grabbed hold of the soft fabric. He placed the box of fries back onto the counter, careful as to not spill any of the contents onto the jacket as he began to wrap it around his shoulders. The fur brushed against his cheeks as he adjusted it slightly.

"So, where to now?" Kaylin asked as he picked up his fries and hopped off the stool.

"Somewhere a lot less crowded." Sans raised his hand towards the other and, without much thought, Kaylin took hold of his hand. Sans would then begin to guide them outside of the bar, ignoring the way that the guards seemed to lean ever so closer as the two passed their table.

Kaylin stiffened. One dog in particular leaned close just as he passed him and promptly began to sniff the air. Said dog, however, seemed confused as his noise crinkled and his eyes narrowed. Turning his attention back to the others, he shook his head at them and threw the flyer onto the ground.

Kaylin was confused by the response, but visibly relaxed when he noticed that the dogs no longer held any interest for him. Sans pushed the entrance of Grilby's open, allowing the cold air to seep in and clash with the warm, almost comforting air that circulated throughout the bar.

* * *

 

Frisk didn't know how long she had been trudging through the snow-covered forest. It felt like hours had passed and she couldn't help but wonder why it seemed that way. Every past run she was able to quickly traverse through the forest without much thought. Yet here she was probably hours after leaving the ruins and still hadn't managed to make it to the bridge.

The only logical explanation she had was that she wasn't just looking to reach the end of the forest. She was actively searching for her lost friend which obviously took in more time than she would normally waste if she were on her own.

Now that she thought about it however, she hadn't ever stopped to admire the beauty of the nearby flora. Even on her first run, she had been too scared to even think about doing such a thing. Still, now that she had experienced life within the Underground and knew that there were no dangerous monsters in the nearby vicinity, she was a little bit more susceptible to watch how the tree branches swayed slightly in the cool breeze.

She continued on with her hunt for her companion. Her eyes lowered onto the snow-covered ground as she eyed the boys' footsteps. Though, as she got further the footsteps seemed to become more erratic before disappearing completely.

She blinked and raised her head. Glancing around, she tried to figure out where the boy could have run off too but to no avail. What could have happened to him? She silently wondered as she took a step forward and walked across the wooden bridge with the bars that was meant to prevent humans from progressing any further.

Easily slipping through them, due to the bars being far too wide apart, she carried on to her eyes dashing from left to right as she took in the area. She noticed that the lamp she hid behind in her previous runs was missing and that, with the exception of the sentry station, the area was empty of anything interesting.

She moved steadily towards the sentry station, hoping that, maybe, Sans was sleeping behind the desk. She wouldn't put it behind him to do something like that, given how lazy the skeleton was.

Nevertheless, she hadn't expected someone to literally leap out at her when she got near the counter and tackle her to the ground. She let out a yelp as her back collided with the snowy ground, the pressure of a body pressing against her making her squirm as she tried wiggle out of her attacker's grasp.

"I GOT YOU NOW YOU LAZY BONES!" A voiced exclaimed with flair, obviously mistaking the brunette for someone else. "HOW DARE YOU ABANDON YOU- "The voice stopped mid-sentence and Frisk raised her head to see a tall figure loaming above her. Her eyes widened as she instantly recognized the other.

"YOU'RE NOT SANS!" The monster said as he slowly got to his feet. "I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, APOLOGIZE FOR THIS LITTLE MISHAP!" He said as he raised a hand towards Frisk.

This wasn't right. Was all Frisk could think when she reluctantly took the skeleton's hand and allowed him to help her to her feet.

Not at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One of my beta readers suggested that I just write Sans speech normally as it would be easier to read and to write. Which is why Sans' has the proper capitalization in his speech.
> 
> Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter!


	5. Revelation

**Chapter 5**

Frisk shifted awkwardly under Papyrus' gaze. The skeleton in question was giving her a bright smile as he leads her towards an intersection that split into two different paths. From the corner of her eye, she spotted a small chest resting near a clump of trees. It was wooden, looked slightly worn, and had snowflakes and leaves decorating its surface, which gave the impression that it had been there for quite some time. She also noted the presence of a save point, which glowed even brighter the closer she got to it.

Papyrus suddenly stopped in his track, prompting Frisk to do the same, and the skeleton began to scoop out the area, no doubt looking for Sans. "WHERE IS THAT LAZY BONES?" He questioned, mostly to himself but loud enough for Frisk to hear him clearly. "IT'S BEEN EIGHT DAYS SINCE HE LAST RECALIBRATED HIS PUZZLES." He promptly began to stomp on the ground, the snow emitted a squishing sound as his red boots made contact with it.

Frisk didn't really know what to say in this situation. Papyrus wasn't supposed to meet her yet, it should have been Sans. Yet here she was, following the tall skeleton with both his brother and her new human friend missing in action.

Truthfully, Frisk wished she hadn't run into him so soon. She had no time to mentally prepare herself for such a meeting. After her last run, she couldn't ignore the guilt that consumed her every time he smiled at her or laughed.

"I'M SORRY ABOUT THIS." Papyrus says as he turns towards Frisk. "MY BROTHER SEEMS TO BE SLACKING OFF AGAIN."

Frisk averted her eyes away from Papyrus' gaze and nodded.

"YOU DON'T TALK MUCH." Papyrus noted. "ARE YOU PUT OFF BY MY GREATNESS? I CAN ALWAYS TONE IT DOWN IF THAT MAKES IT MORE COMFORTABLE FOR YOU"

Frisk winced and forced herself to look at Papyrus. "It's ok… I'm just-"

"WORRIED?" Papyrus suddenly injected. "ABOUT THAT FRIEND YOU WERE TELLING ME ABOUT EARLIER?"

Frisk paused. That wasn't what she was going to say, but she nodded anyway and promptly directed her gaze to her feet. "Yeah… sorry."

"NO NEED TO APOLOGIZE, FRISK. IT PERFECTLY FINE TO BE WORRY ABOUT THOSE YOU CARE ABOUT," Papyrus told her as he approached her and placed a hand on her shoulder. It took all her willpower to avoid flinching away from his touch, and even then she still stiffened slightly, even though Papyrus didn't seem to notice. "IT MAY COME AS A SHOCK TO YOU, BUT EVEN I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, HAVE WORRIES. ESPECIALLY FOR MY BROTHER AND HIS IRREGULAR SLEEPING HABITS."

Papyrus seemed to pause for a moment and Frisk could see the pin-pointed lights in his eyes flare before reverting to their original state. "YOU KNOW WHAT WILL CHEER YOU UP? TESTING MY BRILLIANT TRAPS! DON'T WORRY, THEY WERE MEANT ONLY TO SPECIFICALLY TO CAPTURE HUMANS SO THEY SHOULD BE SAFE FOR A MONSTER."

Frisk tried to smile, although it came off as being forced and didn't quite reach her eyes. "Yeah... that sounds like fun." She said. "You should go ahead and double check your traps, I'll catch up soon."

"RIGHT, OF COURSE. WOULDN'T WANT TO RISK HURTING YOU." With that said, Papyrus removed his hand from her shoulder and scampered off.

Frisk instantly relaxed as she watched Papyrus disappear off into the distance. Her gaze turned towards the glowing save point and she approached it with quick steps. Her hands reached out and touch it and she was instantly consumed by it. The brunette closed her eyes, shielding them from the blinding light, only opening them when she was sure it was over.

She took in her dark surroundings and the three options before her. All of which still had cracks running through them. However, this time something was different.

She wasn't alone.

"Well, if isn't the Pacifist."

"Was wondering when you'd show your ugly mug." Frisk spat as her fist began to clench at the sight of the person before her. She could feel the blood rushing to her face as she angrily regarded them with narrowed eyes.

"That's funny, considering we both have the similar facial features." The person sneered as they raised their hands to gently caress that cracks along the surface of the three options. In particular, the reset button. "Besides, is that any way to greet a friend?"

"Friend?" Frisk said, the tone of her voice perfectly portraying her disgust at the comment. "After everything you've done? After everything you made me do? Why would you think I would ever be friends with you?"

The other human continued to sneer at her, their eyes glowing a deep and vibrant red that contrasted with their otherwise-childlike appearance. "Funny how in the last reset you attempted to liberate me from my so-called sins. What happened? Finally realized that not everyone is capable of being a good person"

Frisk paused at that comment. Her face reverted to its original pale tone as the anger that she felt towards the person in front of her slowly dissipated. She was allowing her emotions to plague her judgement. As much as she wanted to hate them, as much as she wanted to put aside her beliefs just to rid the world of their corruption… She just couldn't.

"But I guess you don't need my friendship, seeing as you've managed to befriend the glitch."

Frisk gritted her teeth at the insult towards her friend. "He's not a glitch."

"Glitch, Anomaly, whatever the hell you want to call him, it doesn't change the fact that he's not supposed to be here."

"What's your point, Chara?" The brunette desperately wanted to end this conversation. She could already feel Chara's presence effecting her emotions and she was secretly terrified of what effects long-time exposure would have on her.

"Oh, nothing really. But with him here, it seems as though I don't have as much influence on you as I normally would. Of course, that won't change the outcome. As long as I'm around, you will continue to fail until you've finally submitted to me." Chara foretold, her sneer morphing into a sinister grin. "And if I have to make you kill that new friend of yours over and over again until he no longer exists in any future timelines, then so be it."

Frisk's blood began to boil. She took a step forward, her fist clenched so tightly that she drew blood "I won't let you!" She exclaimed. Her eyes flared with determination as her eyes locked with Chara, who actually took a step back from Frisk. Their own eyes widened slightly in shock for a brief moment as they silently regarded the other.

However, the expression on their face soon faded away and Chara broke out in a fit of hysterical laughter. "Oh my… you seem to be confused." Chara laughed. "When have you ever been in control?"

Frisk frowned at the girl's sudden outburst. "Is this some sort of sick game to you? How do you justify hurting others for your own enjoyment?"

"I don't need any justification. Besides, I probably won't even have to make you do it. With how accident-prone you are, you'll write him out of existence yourself."

"What?"

"Let this sink in: _every_ time you reset, _every_ time you try to alter fate, that friend of yours will slowly cease to exist. As with each reset, the timelines will begin to fix itself."

Frisk's eyes widened in horror at the revelation. Her entire body stiffened and her mind went completely blank. "Cease to exist..."

"That's what I just said. Are you braindead or something?" Chara taunted as she raised a hand to push back a few locks of her brown hair. "The look on your face is just priceless." She cackled, her red eyes glowing brighter than before.

"I-I don't believe you." Frisk said. Chara was a very manipulative individual, but she wouldn't let her get to her like this. She couldn't let her win.

"Fine. But when your friend is gone, don't say I didn't warn you." Chara turned away from Frisk, her body slowly dissolving into the darkness that surrounded them both. "Go and have your fun, Frisk. But when this little adventure is over, you best be sure that I'm coming back." And with that said, she was gone.

Frisk was pale as she simply stared at the spot where Chara once stood. Her body was numb with shock as her brain was struggling to process everything that Chara had just told her. She was unsure of whether or not she should believe what she was told.

" _But would Chara lie about this?"_ She thought, her gaze slowly lowering towards the damaged Reset button. She was a manipulative and evil individual but Frisk couldn't see any reason for the other girl to lie to her. There was absolutely nothing Chara could gain from lying to her about this.

After a few moments of her pondering and trying to figure out the motives of the deceased girl, with a sigh, Frisk gently pushed the Save Button.

* * *

 

When Kaylin exited Grillby's, the first thing he noticed was the increased number of monsters in the area, all of which circled the massive Christmas tree at the centre of town. "There's so many monsters here." He said. He didn't really know if he should be worried that one would notice him and realize that he was human or if he should be shocked by the sheer amount that populated the area.

"Yeah, this is the time where most monsters usually have breaks and the kids are off from school." Sans informed him as he guided him through the currently-crowded streets of Snowdin and towards the edge of town.

"Speaking of breaks, isn't yours over by now?" Kaylin inquired as he read the various signs that decorated the town as the two casually walked by. "I'm glad you're helping me and all, but I don't want you to get in trouble for slacking off."

Sans shrugged and turned his head back to him. "Nah, doubt anyone will even know I'm gone. Besides I already got a ton of work done today, a _skele-ton_." He joked before pausing. "Well, actually, my bro might notice, but he's used to it. You two should meet actually, I think you'd get along well."

Kaylin was unsure of that last statement. From what Sans has told him of his brother so far, the likelihood of the two getting along was slim, seeing as he determined to capture and probably kill him. "Um... if you say so." He said rather skeptically. He didn't miss the way Sans grin seemed to waiver slightly at his lack of enthusiasm.

"Come on, you shouldn't judge someone before you meet them." Sans told him. "Besides, my bro is really cool."

Kaylin didn't respond and simply looked away from Sans. He didn't doubt that Sans' brother was as great as he was currently making him out to be and, while he agreed that he shouldn't judge someone he didn't know, it was still unnerving that his brother hunted humans for a living. He heard Sans sigh and the two fell into an awkward silence as they continued on towards their destination.

They didn't have to walk far, as the houses and shops quickly became more and more sparse. In the distance, Kaylin spotted a two-story building fully decked out in Christmas decorations. It was by far the largest building in town and Kaylin silently wondered how Sans could possible afford such a large home.

" _Well, he does have a brother."_ Kaylin thought as he stared in awe at the building. He glances to the left and notes the two mail boxes that sit next to the house: one was completely filled with mail, to the point where all of its contents were literally spilling onto the snowy ground, in contrast to the rather tidy mail box that stood at its side, which looked as though it hadn't been opened in a long time.

"That's a lot of mail." Kaylin muttered to himself. He couldn't help but feel slightly curious as to what all those letter was for and who they were directed to.

"Ah just a bunch of junk mail, nothing really important. "Sans cuts in, taking Kaylin off-guard. He flushed as he hadn't realized he had spoken loud enough for the other to hear him. He noted that when Sans gaze shifted towards the mail, his expression soured slightly and he looked almost… tired.

He wanted to ask who the letters were directed towards and why there were so many of them but decided that it was best to remain quiet. He could tell from Sans' expression alone that the skeleton didn't want to talk about it, and he felt pang of guilt at even bringing it up in the first place.

Once Sans reached the door, Kaylin thought of letting go of his hand, but was shocked when the Skeleton simply opened his door. "You don't lock your doors?"

Sans paused and looked back at him. Kaylin was sure if the other had eyebrows they would definitely be raised right now. "Why would I?"

"You know, to keep out intruders?"

Sans titled his head as he stared at him, clearly confused by him. "Well, something like that isn't common down here. Monsters are a bit closer-knit, ya know?"

"Oh." Was all he could say in response. _"Wish humans were that considerate."_ Kaylin thought as Sans turned and entered the house. Sans removed his hand from his grasp in favor of stuffing it in his pockets the moment they stepped in. Kaylin ignored the way his hands twitch in response to the action.

The two enter what appeared to be some sort of living room area. To the left of the room was a giant flat screen television with some sort of game console placed next to it, a green couch, and large stairway that lead to the second floor of the house.

"Welcome to my humble abode." Sans said as he gestured with his free hand.

To the right was a long wooden table that was pressed close to the wall. On its surface was a plate that held a sizeable rock that was caked with sprinkles. Kaylin's brow raised and he squinted his eyes in confusion at the peculiar sight. Eventually, his curiosity got to him.

"Why is there a rock with sprinkles on it?"

"Oh, that's my pet." Sans stated as if it were the most normal thing in the world. "I guess my bro decided to feed him again today."

"You have a rock as a pet?"

"Yeah, much less work to care for than a dog or a cat." Sans claimed and Kaylin snorted in response.

"That is true." He said in response as he made his way further into the living room area. "This is a pretty big house." He noticed that the TV had been left on and the channel that was currently playing was depicting a show he had never heard before. From what he could see, it looked as though the star of the show was some kind of android.

"Eh, if you say so." Sans shrugged as he followed him into the living room. The pin-pointed lights in his eye sockets shifting towards the screen. "That's MTT." Sans explain as he probably noticed the curious expression on his face. "My bro really likes this channel."

"MTT? What does that stand for?"

"Mettaton television. The machine on screen is Mettaton, by the way."

As Kaylin continued to watch what was happening on screen, he couldn't help but ponder on how the monsters could be so advanced, although his initial impression on monster tech was probably skewed due to the fact that Toriel's house was devoid of things like these. But then again, that was quite an ignorant assumption to make, why wouldn't they be able too? If humans could do it, then why couldn't monsters do it as well?

"You know, you don't have to stand there." Sans mused. "We do have a couch, ya know." Kaylin flushed slightly and nodded as he directed his gaze towards the giant blue coach pressed against the wall. He had been drawn into the odd, yet strangely endearing, show without even noticing.

Kaylin shuffled over towards the coach, but before he sat down, he noticed that his foot was resting on something. He blinked and remove his foot to get a better glimpse of the object beneath his foot. It was a sock, and a dirty one at that. It looked like it hadn't been washed in months and it was showing a lot of wear and tear. Besides its dismal appearance, there were several sticky notes taped onto it, all of which had embolden letters written onto it telling Sans to remove the sock.

He heard a cough and raised his head to see Sans standing in front of him. The short skeleton quickly bent down and snatched up the dirty sock. "Sorry about that." Sans said as a blue tint appeared on his face, most likely from embarrassment, as he pocketed the sock. "I, uh, usually leave that there for my brother. It always _rattles his bones_ when he sees it around."

"So you leave it around as a sort of prank?" Kaylin inquires curiously and Sans nods in response.

"Yeah, like I said, it's fun to see his reaction to it laying there." Sans pulled out one of his hands and awkwardly began to rub his skull. "Although, I probably should have moved it before I brought you here."

Kaylin shrugged and sat down onto the coach. "It's fine, I don't really mind. It just took me off guard." Sans grins widened slightly as he lowered his hand from his head. Kaylin noted that the other seemed relieved by his comment. "Besides, it's your house you can decorate it however you see fit." He teased. "If you think a dirty sock adds to the décor, then fine. That's your decision."

Sans chuckled at that before he took a seat next to him. "So, pal, what do you want to do now, huh?" Sans' gaze was focused entirely on him now. Now that Sans had decided to sit alongside him, he suddenly seemed to realized just how small the green couch actually was. Strange.

"Well, I had planned on finishing my fries." He hesitated. "But I wanted to ask you a couple of questions first."

"Shoot." Sans urged as he allowed himself to sink backwards into the couch.

"Why is it that none of the others seemed to recognize me as being human? I mean, besides a few monsters from the ruins and you, everyone seems oblivious to that fact." Not that he was really complaining, after all. If they couldn't identify him as being human, that drastically raised his chances of survival. "It's just seems weird that only a few people actually know what a human looks like."

"Well, it's been a really long time since the last human came here. So long that most monsters don't even know what a human looks like anymore." Sans clarified. "Heck, even my bro doesn't know what you humans look like."

"So how do you know then?"

"Let's just say I've read a lot about humans. Besides, most members of the royal guard are given detailed descriptions of what you guys look like." Sans paused and simply stared at him for a moment. Kaylin shifted slightly, feeling increasingly awkward the longer Sans stared at him. However, before he could question why Sans was staring so intensely at him, Sans spoke. " _Tibia_ honest, you don't seem to fit most of the typical description."

"What do you mean?" Kaylin questioned.

"You don't seem to be a deranged, monster-killing psychopath."

"Wow, you monsters really do have a poor view on us humans." Although, could he really blame them? Humanity has done a lot of twisted things in the past and even now in modern day. "But thanks, I guess. I'm glad that I don't fit the stereotypes."

"Yeah, you would've had a really _bad time_ if that wasn't the case." Sans chuckled. Kaylin didn't miss the sudden tone shift when the other said 'bad time', suggesting that he meant what he said, despite the joking manner in which he said it.

"Any more questions, pal? Or would you rather eat your fries and watch TV instead?" Sans winked.

"Yeah, I have one more." Kaylin said. "When you met me, you said you were expecting another human." He paused as he noticed Sans straightened and his smile tightened. "And you claimed that another human hasn't fallen down here in a long time. There's only one other human I know that's down here and they fell around the same time I did. So there's no way you could have meant them." He claimed.

"Where are you going with this, pal?"

"I just want to know who's the human you were expecting?"

* * *

 

Frisk peered into the wooden chest and took out a pair of pink gloves. Gently, she placed gloves onto her hands and relished in the much-needed heat that they provided her. Her hands instantly warmed up and became less numb from the lack of exposure to the coldness of the outside world.

There was a rustling in the bush and Frisk's head instantly jolted upwards. Her eyes focused onto the foliage before her as she took slowly backed away from the chest. Suddenly, a large icicle sliced through the air and broke free of the foliage and came at Frisk.

With almost inhuman speed, Frisk caught the icicle just as it neared her. Stopping it mere inches away from her face. With little to no effort the brunette discarded the icicle onto the ground next to her, her eyes locked onto the perpetrator. It was a rather large monster with legs reminiscent to that of a chicken, its face arranged in a way that it resembled that of a snowflake.

" _Snowdrake."_ Frisk thought as she stared the monster down. The monster in questioned seemed to hesitate after seeing Frisk effortless stop his surprise attack. However, it would soon summon several more icicles, all of which much larger and sharper than the last.

With a battle cry, the Snowdrake launched the icicles at Frisk. With fluent motions, Frisk evaded the first two attacks that came her way before hopping onto the third and doing a mid-air flip and dodging another two. Landing on her hands, Frisk did a cartwheel and avoided another set of icicles that Snowdrake conjured after her.

Snowdrake huffed as he summoned even more icicles. It was clear to Frisk that the monster was growing increasingly tired from the use of his abilities. "Uh… D-do you want to hear a j-joke?" Snowdrake asked rather timidly as he continued to attack Frisk with icicles.

Quickly snatching a branch that was lying on the ground, Frisk got into a batting position and swung the branch, shattering any icicles that came near her. "Sure." She said rather cheerily despite the fact she was on the receiving end of the monster's attacks.

"Y-you better not snowflake out!" Snowdrake said as he watched Frisk dodge and bat away several more of his icicles.

Frisk smiled and laughed at the pun, although to the professional eyes it was clear that it was forced. However, Snowdrake didn't seem to noticed and actually seemed to brightened up at the sound of Frisk's laughter. "Oh wow, y-you actually laughed! "He exclaims as his attacks suddenly halted mid-air before dissolving into water and crashing onto the ground. "See, Dad was wrong!" he said, clearly in shock that anyone would find him humorous as he flew back into the dense forest.

Frisk sighed in relief as she watched Snowdrake's form slowly vanish off into the distance. She had been worried that Chara would have attempted something during that little fight, but she was glad that the other girl remained quiet, although her appearance earlier still had her on edge.

The human continued along the snowy path that lead towards the town of Snowdin and it wasn't long before another monster decided to have a go at her, this time, a member of the royal guard. "What's that smell?" The bipedal dog behind the sentry station questions. His eyes were squinted and his snout twitched as he sniffed the air. "Who's there?" Frisk instantly stood in place as Doggo attempted to locate her. "Is that a human?" He questions aloud and his head whirls around frantically.

After a few moments, Doggo finally gives up and slowly lowers below his sentry station. Frisk cautiously takes several steps forward, careful not to alert the dog to her presence, as she passes his sentry station.

After reaching an area with a frozen pond and managing to snag a snow-ball from the snowman, Frisk steps into an open area and was greeted with the sight of a frustrated Papyrus. "THAT LAZY BONES STILL HASN'T COME BACK YET." He huffed before he turned and spotted Frisk. "AH IT SEEMS THAT YOU'VE FINALLY DECIDED TO SHOW UP MY FRIEND." Papyrus says rather cheerfully despite his earlier rant.

Frisk waved at Papyrus, although she still avoided his gaze. "Sorry, got a little distracted."

"AH DON'T WORRY MY FRIEND, I THE GREAT PAPYRUS, FORGIVE YOU FOR YOUR TARDINESS."

She smiled at his comment and found herself sparing a few glances at him just to see the look of childish delight on his face. "HERE IS THE FIRST OF MANY COMPLICATED PUZZELS THAT I HAVE CRAFTED." Papyrus motions with his hand to the open space between him and Frisk. "I THINK YOU WILL FIND IT QUITE SHOCKING TO HEAR THAT THE PUZZLE BEFORE YOU IS QUITE… SHOCKING! FOR YOU SEE, THIS, IS AN ELECTICAL MAZE!"

Frisk forces a shock expression to appear on her face as she peers down at the snow-covered ground. "I SEE THE LOOK OF FEAR IN YOUR EYES MY FRIEND, BUT DO NOT FRET! AS A MONSTER YOURSELF SUCH A TRAP SHOULD BE CHILD'S PLAY." Papyrus raises an orb into the air. "THIS ORB WILL ADMINISTER A HEARTY SHOCK TO YOUR SYSTEM IF YOU TOUCH THE WALL OF THE MAZE SO BE CAREFUL!"

Frisk nods. Having already done this puzzle multiple times in the past, she was able to easily find the right walkway and avoided causing injury to the tall Skeleton. Papyrus seemed shocked by how effortlessly she managed to guide herself through the maze. "WELL, IT WOULD SEEM THAT YOU ARE FAR MORE BRILLIANT THAN I THOUGHT YOU WERE! YOU MANAGED TO PASSED THAT PUZZLE SO EASILY." He shifted the orb under his arm. 'YOU WERE ALMOST AS BRILLIANT AS THE GREAT PAPYRUS!"

Frisk gigged as she dusted off some flakes of snow that landed on her shoulder. "No one can be as great as you, Papyrus." She admitted, giving the Skeleton a boost to his ego.

"OF COURSE NOT. NEVERTHELESS, YOU SHOULDN'T COUNT YOURSELF OUT, FOR ONE DAY YOU TWO MAY BE AS GREAT AS I." Papyrus turned away from Frisk. "SADLY SANS ISN'T HERE TO BASK IN OUR GREATNESS." Frisk could hear the sadness in his voice as he said that but, before she could try to cheer him up, Papyrus had already changed gears. "ALRIGHT MY NEW FRIEND, WE HAVE A LOT OF PUZZLES TO CHECK TODAY SO WE BETTER GET MOVING!" Papyrus suddenly slides backwards as he heads towards the next puzzle with Frisk in tow.

Papyrus and Frisk had stopped in front of a small shop with a blue-furred humanoid rabbit standing at its side. He perked up at the sight of the two and instantly brought out a pairs of ice creams that had a blueish tint to them.

"OH! Customers! "He greeted warmly and Frisk could see that he was shaking with uncontained excitement from their arrival. "Would you like some nice cream? It's the frozen treat that warms your heart!" The monstered offered as he extended his hands towards Frisk and Papyrus.

Frisk was going to decline the offer when her stomach began to growl. She blushed as she realized that she hadn't eaten all day, after all, she didn't really have the time seeing as Toriel had planned on destroying the only exit from the ruins.

Since she left the ruins, she had been too preoccupied with finding Kaylin, surviving and dealing with all the various differences in the timeline that she hadn't been aware of her hunger until the monster offered her food. "IT WOULD SEEM THAT MY FRIEND IS IN DESPERATE NEED FOR SOME NUTRIENTS." Papyrus notes as she reaches into his pockets and procures some gold. "WHILE IT MAY NOT BE SPAGHETI IT WILL DO FOR NOW."

Frisk wanted to object to Papyrus' paying for the ice-cream himself, after all she had some gold on her and it wasn't fair for her to leech off of him, but she froze when Papyrus gave her one of his signature smiles. "DON'T WORRY ABOUT PAYING ME BACK, THE GREAT PAPYRUS CAN ALWAYS GET MORE GOLD." He claims as he hands Frisk her ice cream.

Frisk hesitates before taking the ice-cream anyway after her stomach growls again as if demanding that she eat the ice-cream. She took a few lick and couldn't help but enjoy the taste that assaulted her taste buds. Monsters sure knew how to make the most delicious snacks and food.

"Thank you." She says to both the ice cream monster and Papyrus. The ice-vendor just nods and tells them to come back again, while Papyrus puffs out his chest and places his hand on his armor.

"NO NEED TO THANK ME! AS A FUTURE MEMBER OF THE ROYAL GUARD IT'S THE LEAST I CAN DO."

Frisk smiles as she continues to lick her nice-cream. A feeling of determination welling up in her. She was going to protect this timeline. No matter what.


End file.
